For Now, Cuba to Carry On with the "Historicos"

The Cuban Communist Party opted for political “experience” over rejuvenation, announcing Tuesday that 80-year-old histórico and former Sierra Maestra rebel, José Ramón Machado, was selected as the Party’s new second-in-command. Machado takes over the position from 79-year-old Cuban President Raúl Castro, who, as expected, officially replaced his brother, Fidel, as the Party’s first secretary. (For his part, the elder Castro, donning his traditional track suit, made a surprise appearance at the Congress’s closing session).

Cuba expert Arturo Lopez-Levy tells the Times that Machado’s selection was likely based on his knowledge of the inner workings of the party and his past experience heading an office in charged with approving promotions and developing ties with party leaders across the island.

There was a bit of relative youth added to PCC’s central committee and its 15-member Politburo. As the New York Times reports, the latter will now include three youngsters – that is, individuals under the age of 60 – among them, new economic reform czar Marino Murillo, Havana Communist Party chief Mercedes Lopez Acea, and Economy Minister Adel Izquierdo Rodriguez.

Absent from Tuesday’s closing session were any further details about how and when the economic reforms (Lineamientos), approved by the Congress this weekend, would be applied. Phil Peters has more details at The Cuban Triangle. His conclusions:

“The Congress reaffirmed the commitment to economic reform; proposed a mechanism to push the reforms through the bureaucracy; signaled that reforms will proceed deliberately but not on an emergency basis; stated that the Party needs to butt out of day-to-day government and business affairs at all levels; and passed up the opportunity to make big personnel moves, including those that would send signals about next-generation leaders.”

Today’s bullet points:

· In Honduras, the country’s Appeals Court is expected to announce shortly whether or not it will drop pending corruption charges against former President Mel Zelaya, ousted in a 2009 coup d’etat. The decision would open the door for Zelaya’s return to the country, and potentially, Honduras’s eventual re-integration within the OAS. Members of the FNRP met with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez over the weekend to discuss their criteria for supporting such re-incorporation into the inter-American system. The meeting followed an earlier one between Chavez, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, and Honduran President Pepe Lobo about the same topic. Juan Barahona, sub-coordinator of the FNRP, says the Resistance has four demands that must be met before it will support the move: the return to Honduras of Zelaya and all other individuals exiled by the coup; respect for human rights; the convening of a Constituent Assembly; and, now, the recognition of the FNRP, by the government, as a legitimate political force that can participate in future elections.

· A second US free trade agreement with a Latin American country – this time Panama—appears to be moving forward. The New York Times reports that the two countries agreed Monday to exchange tax information, ending US worries about Panama becoming a haven for income-tax evaders. Not coincidentally, the White House announced yesterday that Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli will be traveling to Washington next week (April 28) for his first face-to-face meeting with President Obama.

· Also in the US this week is unofficial Haitian president-elect Michel Martelly. Among those with whom he is meeting are Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and IMF chief, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Official results in Haiti’s presidential race are expected to be finally announced sometime today. More from AQ.

· The Wall Street Journal and Mercopress have more on the growing differences about international economic policy between Global South powers – particularly Brazil – and the Global North – namely the US. As discussed earlier, the central issue of dispute at this week’s IMF meetings was whether or not extremely low interest rates in the US are behind speculative capital outflows toward the developing world. Brazil says so-called ‘hot money’ is behind inflation worries. Despite statements to the contrary by Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega, the Financial Times contends that such worries continue to rise in Brazil. New March unemployment numbers released this week show unemployment there to be at a record low of 6.5%, and some economists argue that is fueling rising demand and thus rising prices. Brazil’s Central Bank plans to raise interest rates by 25 to 50% today in its latest attempt to hold back new lending.

· While worries about inflation are not as significant in Chile – at least yet – Dow Jones says that country’s Central Bank suggested the idea of capital controls should be studied in advance, just in case, despite repeated statements by President Sebastian Pinera that the country opposes such measures.

· On the relationship between economic numbers and politics, Reuters looks at the impact $100+ oil will have on an upcoming election season in Venezuela.

· Insight looks at Juan Manuel Santos’s qualification this week of earlier statements about the FARC and Venezuela.

· The Miami Herald examines what may be the newest drug trafficking thoroughfare – the Dominican Republic. According to the paper, more than 5000 officials from the police and military have been fired in the last year alone for suspected ties to traffickers moving drugs through the island from Colombia and on to the US and Europe. Miami attorney Joaquin Perez, who represents a number of alleged traffickers tells the paper: “There is no question that most of the heavy lifting in drug trafficking in the Dominican Republic is being done by the military: They are the ones who facilitate the entry of drugs. They get a commission, in the form of drugs, and then find someone to sell it.”

· AFP reports on the opening of a new regional counter-narcotics and security operations center in Panama, to be administered by Central American Integration System (SICA).

· BBC Mundo says Bolivia has accepted $250,000 from the US for coca eradication. The new funds come just weeks after the US arrested former Bolivian drug czar General Rene Sanabria in Panama for his alleged participation in cocaine trafficking.

· The LA Times reflects on the Bay of Pigs debacle, fifty years after.

· And the Real News with a long video report on teacher protests of recent weeks in Honduras.