Fidel Castro Retires

Fidel Castro has just stepped down from the Cuban presidency, following a year-and-a-half of illness (see here and here). Having come to power on New Year's Day 1959, Castro has been the head of Cuba for nearly fifty years.

The real question is how much will change will come to Cuba--politically, economically, or otherwise--now that Castro has voluntarily stepped down from power? Will he continue to play a significant role in shaping policy behind the scenes? Or will this pave the way for a younger generation to bring about political and economic reform?

Likewise, how much space will the Cuban people be given by the international community, in general, and the United States, in particular, to chart their own destiny in the post-Castro era? Given the rise of numerous strong populist movements and governments in Latin America while the United States has spent most of this decade quigmired in the War on Terror, it is certainly possible that Cuba will have a lot more latitude to shape its own future than it would have, say, even ten or fifteen years ago.

Regardless of where Cuba is headed though, the reality is that things are changing and those changes--whatever they may be--will be big enough to signficantly impact the rest of us throughout the Caribbean.

The next few years, no doubt, promise to be exciting yet challenging times for the Cuban people as they embark on a new and important chapter in their history.