Chavez steals show in Castro's Cuba
 
Date: Tue, 4 Dec 2007 18:43:15 -0600 (CST)

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN1620821020071016

Chavez steals show in Castro's Cuba
Tue Oct 16, 2007 6:36pm EDT

By Anthony Boadle

HAVANA (Reuters) - With Fidel Castro sidelined by illness, Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez stormed through Cuba this week and stole the
limelight from his ailing mentor.

Eight hours of Chavez speeches -- including his weekly "Alo Presidente"
show -- were broadcast live during his three-day visit to Cuba, a burst of
rhetoric not seen since Castro dropped out of public view after intestinal
surgery last year.

Chavez, bolstered by soaring oil prices, has emerged as Castro's political
successor and the new leader of Latin America's growing left-wing bloc,
which also includes Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua.

Cuban cabinet ministers wore red T-shirts traditionally used by Chavez
supporters in Venezuela as they sat and listened to him propose that Cuba
join Venezuela in a confederation of two nations.

"Deep down, we are one single government, one single country," the
swaggering Venezuelan populist said on Sunday at the tomb of revolutionary
icon Ernesto "Che" Guevara in Santa Clara in central Cuba.

His remarks and increasing confidence raised questions about his political
influence in Cuba now that Castro is largely out of the picture.

Chavez did most of the talking when the 81-year-old Castro, who has not
appeared in public in almost 15 months, called in by telephone on Sunday
to Chavez's radio and television program broadcast live to Cuba and
Venezuela.

Chavez then met with low-profile acting President Raul Castro on Monday
and signed a string of economic deals, ranging from oil production,
refining and petrochemicals to tourism and the laying of a 1,000-mile
underwater fiber optic cable from Venezuela to Cuba.

Cuba's ruling Communist Party newspaper Granma highlighted the economic
integration between the two allies, not the political fusion that Chavez
touted during his visit.

The agreements cement an alliance between Latin America's two most
anti-American leaders that has helped keep Cuba's economy afloat with
vital Venezuelan oil supplies in return for Cuban medical and other social
services.

CUBAN INDEPENDENCE

Chavez's call for political union surprised Cubans who welcome his
economic aid but take pride in the independence of their country, which
has faced off with the United States since Castro's 1959 revolution.

"I think this is excellent for our economy," said Lazaro, an apartment
building administrator. "But nobody knows how long Chavez will last or who
will come after him?"

Some Cubans, weary of communist rule, chose to turn off their television
sets and not listen to Chavez. "He looked like a clown, singing on stage.
I think it's all a bluff. I switched off," said a Havana housewife, who
asked not to named.

Analysts say Chavez still needs the survival of Castro's government in
Cuba for ideological legitimacy and that his influence over Cuban policy
is limited.

"When Hugo Chavez calls for a 'confederation of republics' between
Venezuela and Cuba, it is enough to give any Cuban nationalist
nightmares," said Dan Erikson of the Inter-American Dialogue, a think tank
in Washington.

"But despite Chavez's sweeping rhetoric, the reality is that Venezuela
still has very little influence on how Cuba manages its domestic political
and economic affairs."

) Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.