Fidel Castro: 2 leaders undone by 'honey of power'
Castro's decision to oust powerful officials close to his brother Fidel raises questions both about who will succeed him and how the biggest government shake-up since he took power a year ago will impact U.S.-Cuba relations.HAVANA -- Fidel Castro said Tuesday that two of his closest lieutenants had become seduced by "the honey of power," and hinted that they were demoted because their angling for leadership roles in a post-Castro Cuba had become unseemly.
That was almost certainly a reference to Felipe Perez Roque, out as foreign minister, and Vice President Carlos Lage, who was removed from his post as Cabinet secretary..
"The honey of power, for which they had not sacrificed at all, awoke in them ambitions that led to an undignified role," he wrote.
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"The external enemy was filled with illusions for them."
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Foreign analysts have often described Lage, 57, and Perez Roque, 43, as potential leaders of Cuba once 82-year-old Fidel and 77-year-old Raul Castro leave the scene.
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Fidel Castro: 2 leaders undone by 'honey of power'
Castro's decision to oust powerful officials close to his brother Fidel raises questions both about who will succeed him and how the biggest government shake-up since he took power a year ago will impact U.S.-Cuba relations.
HAVANA -- Fidel Castro said Tuesday that two of his closest lieutenants had become seduced by "the honey of power," and hinted that they were demoted because their angling for leadership roles in a post-Castro Cuba had become unseemly.
Castro's column provides the first hint of why two of the government's most public faces were abruptly removed Monday in Cuba's largest leadership shake-up in decades.
Castro sniffed at suggestions that President Raul Castro is putting his personal stamp on the government he inherited from his older brother a year ago.
He wrote that officials sought his advice on the changes, "even though there was no law" requiring his consent, and said international wire services were "rending their garments" and spreading rumors that "Fidel's men" were being replaced by "Raul's men."
He also wrote that most of the ousted officials didn't owe their jobs to him anyway. And while he didn't name names, he said the "two most mentioned" were too eager to advance.
That was almost certainly a reference to Felipe Perez Roque, out as foreign minister, and Vice President Carlos Lage, who was removed from his post as Cabinet secretary.
"The honey of power, for which they had not sacrificed at all, awoke in them ambitions that led to an undignified role," he wrote. "The external enemy was filled with illusions for them."
Foreign analysts have often described Lage, 57, and Perez Roque, 43, as potential leaders of Cuba once 82-year-old Fidel and 77-year-old Raul Castro leave the scene. The next-in-line under Cuba's constitution is Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, 78.
Twenty other officials also were shifted, fired or promoted in what the government called a streamlining effort.
These changes were more about solving internal economic problems than any Cuban maneuvering for possible talks with President Barack Obama's new administration, some analysts said.
Obama has said he is willing to talk with Cuban leaders and wants to loosen restrictions on travel to the island by Cuban Americans.
"Like Raul, these (new) people are portrayed more as pragmatists than ideologues," said Susan Kaufman Purcell, director of the Center for Hemispheric Policy at the University of Miami. If Raul Castro "can fix up the economy he doesn't need the relationship with the United States that much."
Both Perez Roque and Lage remain on the Council of State, Cuba's top governing body, but Castro's column leaves their future in doubt.
No new post was specified for either man, although Lage remains vice president. He is considered the architect of economic reforms that kept the island's communist system alive following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Both men have been popular in Cuba. Lage is unpretentious and traveled in a Russian-made Lada subcompact well before officials mandated small cars for all officials. Perez Roque has a jovial, outgoing personality that many Cubans can relate to.
They would not be the first top officials dismissed after seemingly becoming too comfortable with power. Perez Roque's predecessor as foreign minister, Roberto Robaina, was sacked for unexplained reasons, and ideology chief Carlos Aldana, a close deputy to both Castro brothers, suddenly stepped down before that.
"Fidel Castro has a long history of mentoring younger leaders, giving them important portfolios and then basically banishing them once they began to feel secure in their own power," said Daniel Erikson, of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington.
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