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Across Straits Of Florida, A Generation Waits Its Turn

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 22, 2008

Fidel Castro, who is 81 and ailing, initiated a rare moment of political uncertainty in Cuba when he resigned this week after nearly five decades in power. He and his brother Raul represent the generation known in Cuba as the "historicos," those who rose to power because of their active early support for the revolution.

But many of the historicos have died or fallen out of favor, giving way to a generation of Cubans for whom the revolution is only a historical concept. Bombarded by ideas from abroad, a generation of Cuban political leaders who came of age after Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution is preparing to inherit it. Many of them, now in their 40s and 50s, have developed a more open political outlook than their fathers, partly because of the Internet.

Nation/World, Page 11

•More than 70 percent of Cuba's current population was born after the revolution.

•Older Cuban leaders once considered possible successors to the Castros - such as National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon, 70, and former interior minister Ramiro Valdes, 75 - now are given almost no chance of ascending to the top post.

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