Since the massive protests on July 11, 2021, Cuba’s communist Castro dictatorship has been on the ropes. The regime’s sock puppet president isn’t cutting it, so the nonagenarian dictator had to make an appearance.
The Revolution is fading away and Raul Castro reappears
At the close of one of the worst years for Cuba, during the second day of the Tenth Ordinary Period of the National Assembly of Popular Power, where issues were discussed and decisions were made without any direct input from Cuban citizens, Raul Castro reappeared. He was greeted with applause by those who raise their hands in unanimity to vote for the continuance of the ruin that promises a chaotic 2023, despite the predictions made by the comedian, my apologies, the president, Miguel Diaz-Canel.
At 91, the elderly dictator is now retired from political life. He holds no position that merits his presence at parliamentary sessions, and neither does he offer relevant information. But once again, as it happened last May, he shows himself to the members of the assembly. He is the last symbol of the failed Revolution and the family that has ruled the island through repression, hunger, and nepotism. He believes his presence in the halls where the future of the country is debated still works as a reminder that they must remain anchored to Stalinism.
Nevertheless, the heirs of Castroism have their own plans. They all long to live like millionaires without having to hide it, like their parents and grandparents had to. To live without having to give up using the semantic weight of the “Cuban Revolution” for their own benefit or deploying a wave of repression when the circumstances warrant it.
Raul Castro is a bluff aimed at the part of the population who believes these “historic figures” still serve any purpose, so they remain under the hypnotic influence of the process. It is a state of the living dead waiting for the most minute stimulus, be it a bag of chicken, three extra pounds of rice, a lean rack of ribs from any animal, or a bottle of rum.
While the Revolution limps to the beat of the caudillo’s younger brother, the National Assembly is ready to approve, among other things, the “Law of Expropriation for Reasons of Public Utility or Social Interest,” which can strip the patrimony of citizens the regime finds troublesome. It can also strip the investment of foreigners who, if the situation arises — and it always does — show themselves reluctant to be victims of extortion in the name of socialism.
I suppose they’ll bury him in his costume, possibly along with all his faux military bling. Might as well.
Is that his grandson / bodyguard behind him? A bodyguard in the National Assembly? Is that needed? Maybe so Raul can find the exit?
Yes, that’s the grandson, the thuggish “Cangrejo.”