The Fifth Man

Today, in the Sun-Sentinel, Ray Sanchez writes about three of Fidel’s possible replacements in his Cuba Notebook. But I have to admit, I was a bit confused.(nothing new).

Sanchez mentions Raúl, Alarcón , Perez Roque and Lage as the replacements. Four.(?).

He also makes it sound as if it’s actually the newly elected 614 member assembly which makes the decisions. I don’t know about that-actually I do. It’s the omnipotent totalitarian dictator that selects the assembly, not the other way around. He compares “choosing” a Cuban president it to the election of a Pope. But the infallible “Pope” isn’t dead and though we have seen smoke coming out of the chimney, it hasn’t been black which means he’s still alive, drooling and in charge.(Five?)

Again, the theory that Raul may like to be the power behind the throne is floated. This move has definite advantages to the Castros especially since the US “Intelligence” has recently indicated that it expects,( hopes, even), the Raul Castro regime to remain in power unless it makes mistakes-defined in the same text as unleashing a mass exodus towards Florida.

Cuba “experts”-folks who read the tea leaves in a way that best supports their personal agenda$-all weigh in on the “candidates” and on the “selection process”.

Here’s Wayne Smith’s opinion on Alarcón:

"Alarcón is the most experienced and I think he will certainly have a very senior role but he's up there also," said Wayne Smith, director of the Cuba program at the Center for International Policy, a Washington research organization. "By the time Raúl moves aside, Alarcón may be too old."

I guess Wayne didn’t see the tape that was “anonymously” “leaked” to the BBC last week in which Alarcón humiliated himself by showing that he can’t debate his way out of a paper bag. This tape was either filmed and released by the regime as both a hit piece on Alarcón and to signal his imminent non-selection as Assembly President and some cosmetic changes that they’ve already decided on or somebody needs to stick a fork in the revolution because it’s done.

Ultimately, Sanchez reaches the conclusion I concur with on the “next” Cuban President:

But he (Fidel) didn't withdraw his name from the list of Communist Party candidates for the National Assembly, either. Which puts him in line for the presidency. Again.