The hottest video in Havana these days is seven hours long and boasts no Hollywood talent. But it has Communist Party faithful flocking into theaters to watch the star of the show savagely criticize Cuba's food shortages and bungling bureaucrats. The headliner is none other than Fidel Castro's younger brother Raul. For the party's 500,000 card-carrying members, the uncut footage of Raul traversing Cuba from Santiago de Cuba to Pinar del Rio, chronicling political and economic woes, is a must see. And despite the occasional urge to nap, viewers exit stunned and uncertain what it portends for Cuba's future.
Long hidden in the shadow of his taller, more charismatic brother, Raul has stepped into the spotlight this year as the champion of economic and agricultural reforms long opposed by Fidel. While Fidel was exhorting hungry Cubans with hoary slogans like "Socialism or death," Raul went to the people last spring, asking party members and peasants alike about the government's shortcomings. As economic woes mounted, Raul, head of the country's Revolutionary Armed Forces, subbed for his brother and delivered the traditional July 26th speech commemorating the start of the Cuban revolution. And Raul pushed for the Oct. 1 reopening of free-enterprise farmers' markets, which were shut down by Fidel in 1986. "Beans," declared the general, "are more important than cannons."
While Fidel, 67, remains Cuba's ideologue of yesteryear, Raul, 63, has emerged as today's pragmatist. After the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 cost Havana its main trading partner, Fidel has only grudgingly opened the door to dollar-toting tourists and foreign investors, begun shrinking the army and bureaucracy, and allowed Cubans a taste of private enterprise. But monthly rations barely provide enough food for two weeks. The Cuban army, in touch with grass-roots sentiment through its conscripts and ties with local militias, started telling Raul of widespread grumbling among the hungry populace.
Public anger bubbled over this summer when 32,000 Cubans fled the island in makeshift rafts. Fidel, shocked and hurt, fell silent after a few television appearances. Raul, concerned that his 180,000 troops would be called upon to put down popular protests, decided the stalemate between reformers and hard- liners had dragged on too long. Food had become a national-security issue, more important than possible political squabbles. In July, at a Communist Party meeting, Raul said, "The risks don't matter as long as there is food for the people." By late summer he had apparently persuaded Fidel to let the army take over decisions about food production from civilian economists.
Raul's ideas of reform are not necessarily the ones Western democracies would choose for Cuba. Basically, Havana is turning increasingly large chunks of the economy over to the military. Although it is rare to see uniformed soldiers on the street, Raul's troops are involved in every aspect of the economy, from running plants to planting food. The general has plugged military men loyal to him -- some retired, some still active -- into influential positions. Professional soldiers who once earned battle medals as mercenaries in Angola and Ethiopia are now assigned to repair city pipelines, build tourist hotels and direct industrial production. Generals are donning civilian clothes to run quasi-private corporations, from tourist hotels to department stores.