Much ado about Castro

The announcement last week that Castro had resigned the presidency of Cuba was met with buzz from people of all perspectives. His sympathizers took the occasion to relive his near 50 years of rule, while has detractors preached progress. The discussions began immediately about the future of Cuban politics and foreign relations.

While I'm not going to pretend this wasn't a big event, it is premature to move too far forward. This announcement was mostly symbolic, since the position of president is understandably not all that important in communism. To get an idea, let's look back at the mother of Cuban communism, the USSR. How many leaders of the USSR can you name? Lenin? Stalin? Khrushchev? Gorbachev?

Only Gorbachev held the office (or equivalent chairmanship) of 'President.' Stalin was "General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee." The executive branch of the Soviet state was lead by numerous men during his tenure. Khruschev, similarly, inherited the Party Secretaryship from Stalin, and never ruled from the executive office. Gorbachev, who did occupy the presidency, was also the last Communist General Secretary of the Soviet Union.

This is the de facto leadership of Soviet-style communism, the President is an important figurehead, but the control is wielded by the Communist Party Leader. Even Lenin, during the formative era of the modern Soviet Union, rose to head of state by way of Communist Party leadership.

So what about Fidel? Well, as reported by many newspapers, he remains the head of the Cuban Communist Party, even as his brother takes over the executive office. As such, no matter his age or physical frailty, Fidel Castro will rule Cuba until his death. The forfeiture of the Presidency surely signifies that end is coming, but let's not be too forward in our proclamations of progress. We are merely being given a glimpse of the new leadership as Raúl picks his cabinet members.

But for now, it's still Fidel's cuba.