Castro cedes power to brother

Cuban President Fidel Castro, speaks in this September 9, 2002 file photo in Havana, Cuba. Fidel Castro temporarily relinquished his presidential powers to his brother Raul on Monday night, July 31, 2006 and told Cubans that he had undergone surgery. (AP Photo/Cristobal Herrera, file)

Well, this is a surprise. This is from CNN.Com:

HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) -- Fidel Castro has temporarily handed over power to his brother Raul due to intestinal surgery, Cuban television reported, the first time the communist leader has ceded control of the island nation in 47 years.

Castro's secretary, Carlos Valenciaga, read a letter Monday night that he said was from the president announcing the news. In it, the Cuban leader said that stress had forced him into surgery and that he would be in bed for several weeks after the operation.

Castro, who has led Cuba since the 1959 revolution, turns 80 on August 13.

Raul Castro, 75, is the first vice president of the country and designated successor to his brother. He also assumes control over the armed forces and leadership of the Communist Party, according to the statement.

The news sparked celebration across the Straits of Florida in Miami, home to Cuban-American exiles for more than four decades since Fidel Castro's rise to power.

So Fidel Castro has given power to his younger brother Raul, while he goes into surgery. And the Cuban-American community in Miami goes into an orgasmic rhapsody at the news:

The area's Cuban-American community of about 650,000 is the largest part of Florida's fast-growing Hispanic population, with its influence felt across the state, according to the AP. (Full story)

"My first reaction was disbelief. My second reaction was hope," the AP quoted Armando Tellez as he watched hundreds of cars clogging the streets of Hialeah, a Miami suburb. "This is a singular event in Cuba's history because there has never been anything that has given the people so much hope."

Among the cheering crowds waving Cuban flags late Monday and early Tuesday was a group dressed as migrants with life jackets, pretending to paddle a cardboard boat down Little Havana's Calle Ocho -- recalling the desperate journey many exiles have taken over the sea, the AP reported.

As the revelry pushed into the early hours, Miami's roads were gridlocked with honking cars, prompting fears of headaches for the morning rush-hour commute.

If Fidel Castro dies after this surgery, not only would it be an enormous shock to the people of Cuba, but also to the world. However, nothing is going to change regarding the Cuban government, since Fidel's brother Raul will have maintained power of the government. US-Cuban relations will remain the same for the past fifty years or so--and that's NOT! I certainly don't see the Bush administration reaching its hand out to Raul Castro for a resumption of diplomatic relations with Cuba.

The real scary situation would be for Fidel Castro to die, and then Raul Castro to die a short time after before Raul could work out a plan for a post-Fidel government. Even worst, the death of Raul Castro before he could pick his own successor could send Cuba into anarchy and chaos, as possible rival factions fight each other for power. And since we have a neoconservative Bush regime here that loves the destabilization of countries, I can't imagine what this Bush administration could do to further destabilize the Cuban government after the deaths of Fidel, Raul, or both.