Raul Castro Urges Students to Debate ‘Fearlessly’:

Raul Castro has set a surprising new tone for Cuban politics, telling university students in Havana that they should debate “fearlessly” and bring their concerns directly to him.

Castro’s remarks, published Thursday by the Communist Party newspaper, Granma, are the clearest indication yet of how he might reshape Cuba after the death of his ailing brother, Fidel Castro. Raul Castro told the students that his brother is “irreplaceable.”

“Fidel cannot be replaced unless all of us replace him together, each in his or her own place, carrying out his or her concrete task,” Raul Castro was quoted as saying. “Only the Communist Party of Cuba can replace Fidel.”

Raul Castro, who is Cuba’s defense minister, tempered his remarks by telling the students that a “unified command” is a key military principle, but “that doesn’t mean that discussions can’t happen.”

The notion of freewheeling political debate is almost unheard-of in Cuba, where many residents fear repercussions if they criticize the government. But it is not without precedent. At one time, Raul Castro encouraged open debate, including criticism of the government, at Cuba’s military college. Such debate has been reined in over recent years, but some experts say they think Raul Castro could one day introduce a similar system of free speech in Cuban society.

“It’s true that Raul Castro has tried over the years to open spaces for conversation,” Jorge Dominguez, a Mexican political analyst who has written extensively about Cuba, said in an interview from Harvard University, where he is teaching this winter.

I will remain a skeptic of the liberalizing intentions of Raul for the moment.  When discussion of the need for debate are alongside such notions as “only the Communist Party of Cuba can replace Fidel” as well as discussion of “unified command” I have to think that Raul isn’t about to become John Stuart Mill as soon as Fidel passes.