As Cubans Wait, Castro to Mark Revolution's Start

Jeff Franks
Reuters
July 24, 2010

President Raul Castro will mark the 57th anniversary of the start of the Cuban revolution on Monday on a bit of a roll internationally, but still struggling to modernize one of the world's last communist economies.

He is expected to make the annual July 26 speech at a morning ceremony in the central city of Santa Clara, beside a monument holding the remains of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, the Argentine who helped lead the armed uprising that put Fidel Castro in power in 1959.

Raul Castro, who replaced older brother Fidel in 2008, this month sprung the biggest surprise of his administration by agreeing in a deal with the Roman Catholic Church to free 52 political prisoners.

The announcement of the release quieted, at least for the moment, international criticism of Cuba that followed the February death of an imprisoned hunger striker and raised hope for improved relations with the United States and Europe.

But on the domestic front, Castro's success has been muted, at best, and the Caribbean island remains mired in financial problems...

...Most likely his speech will be the "usual rhetoric" but with the possibility of "a slight, flirtatious mention of change for international audiences," said Christopher Sabatini an analyst at the Council of the Americas in Washington.

"They know they have the world's attention with the release of the 52. They may go no further, but they don't want to lose attention either," he said.

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