The Hindu : Kerala News : `No leadership vacuum after Castro'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Nov 27, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

`No leadership vacuum after Castro'

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, NOV. 26. The Cuban Communist Party Central committee member, Pablo Beccallo Infanta, has said that there is no possibility of Cuba experiencing a leadership vacuum once the Cuban president, Fidel Castro, leaves the scene.

Replying to questions at a `Meet the Press' programme organised by the Press Club here today, the Cuban leader said all the talk of a potential leadership crisis is misplaced as the country already has a collective leadership capable of stepping in at any time.

Besides individual leaders like Raul Castro, there is the collective leadership of the Communist Party at the level of the Central committee and the Polit Bureau. In the event of an emergency, the Vice-President could step in to fill the vacuum, he added.

Mr. Infanta said the Cuban people have learnt how to resist the American blockade of his country and that though the blockade has stood in the way of social development, there is no question of the country capitulating before American imperialism.

He lauded the support extended by India to Cuba in times of crisis, particularly whenever issues relating to the country figured in the deliberations of the United Nations General Assembly and said Cuba looked towards countries such as India for support in its fight against U. S. imperialism.

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