The beginning of the end of the Castro era

The resignation of Fidel Castro as President of Cuba and head of the country's armed forces is an opportunity for the international community to try and engage with this Communist country with the hope of encouraging both political and economic reforms to take place.

Certainly, while Castro is still around, Cuba is not going to be transformed into either a democracy or a market economy. And a few observers have made the point of stressing that Castro, who has ruled Cuba with an iron fist for 49 years, remains secretary general of the Cuban Communist Party, which is the most important position of power in all Communist systems.

So Castro remains the de facto leader of Cuba; nonetheless he has chosen to relinquish the presidency and the control of the armed forces to his brother Raul. So perhaps it is the beginning of the end of the Castro era.

This new situation cannot be brushed aside or ignored, and now would be an ideal time for Europe to step up its engagement with Cuba to try and start the process of change, however small. I believe the United States should also begin engaging with Havana; however this is obviously out of the question for the moment because of the presidential election in November. No presidential candidate would risk losing the important Cuban-American vote, which could make a crucial difference in key states such as Florida.

Engaging with Cuba does not mean accepting the status quo in the country in the interest of stability. In other words, Europe and the US must continue to insist on a process which leads to free and fair elections, the release of political prisoners and the introduction of civil liberties.

At the same time, however, it should enter into a dialogue with Raul Castro, who seems to be keener than his brother to encourage a more open debate (at least by Cuban standards) about shortcomings in the day-to-day lives of ordinary Cubans. At this stage, even limited reforms would be welcome.

Fidel Castro has been out of the scene ever since undergoing abdominal surgery in July 2006, after which he temporarily handed over the running of the country to his brother Raul, who was Defence Minister. He never fully recovered his strength, which is officially why he formally resigned last week. How much reform Fidel Castro will allow his brother to carry out - if Raul does intend to bring about reform - is still to be seen.

Fidel Castro, the world's longest serving dictator, took power in a popular revolution in 1959 after a two-year guerrilla war against the US-backed dictator, Fulgenico Batista. A planned invasion of Cuba by over 1,000 Cuban exiles in 1961 at the Bay of Pigs, supported by the CIA, failed.

A year later the world was brought to the brink of nuclear war after the Soviet Union stationed nuclear missiles in Cuba. Nuclear war was averted only because the missiles were eventually withdrawn. In 1991 the collapse of the Soviet Union - which had long supported Cuba with financial aid - created serious economic problems for the Castro regime.

However, unlike what happened in Eastern Europe, the Cuban Communist regime did not collapse, mainly because the 1959 overthrown of the Batista regime was inspired by a popular movement and was not imposed by a foreign power, which is what the Soviet Union did after World War II when it imposed Communism over Eastern Europe. Of course, Cuba is a police state and has always been one, whether under Batista or Castro, so the fact that it never had a history of democracy makes the transition a more difficult one.

Despite the fact that Cuba under Castro has always been a dictatorship one has to acknowledge the great strides the country has made in the social area, particularly the educational and health sectors, the latter being the envy of many third world countries.

So it is easy to understand why some sections of Cuban society still support the Castro regime, especially when they compare the progress made in the social field to that under the Batista regime. Furthermore, the fact that the US was a firm supporter of Batista does not go down too well among certain Cuban circles when Washington calls for the establishment of democracy in Cuba.

The US has in fact had a trade embargo in place against Cuba since February 1962, shortly after it cut diplomatic ties with Havana, and there are severe travel restrictions imposed on US citizens visiting the Communist country.

Castro has survived numerous American attempts to overthrow him and during the Cold War he was a thorn in America's side. He was firmly within the Soviet camp and even sent troops to fight on behalf of pro-Soviet Communist movements in Africa, such as in Angola.

The Cold War, however, is over. The US trade embargo against Cuba has proved to be counter-productive and only strengthened Castro's grip on power, and the Castro era is coming to an end. The next US President will therefore probably consider reviewing US policy towards Cuba.

The aim of the both the US and Europe should be to encourage economic reform in Cuba accompanied by the promise of better trade deals and economic help, as long as this takes place in parallel with genuine political reforms. It will be a slow process, but a process that is worth working towards.