The issue of political succession and continuity

Supporters and opponents alike frequently look to the Cuban regime with the same impression: the current political cadre is aging without indicating a clear method of succession. The average age of Raúl Castro’s cabinet is over 70. Fidel Castro is 83, and Raúl is 78. The general sense that the regime might successfully pull off a generational shift in leadership through the younger Communist Party leaders Carlos Lage, former Vice President, and Felipe Perez Roque, former Foreign Minister, dissipated when these two were thrown out on charges of corruption (falling victim to “the honey of power”) last year.

The main questions of the day, of the month, and really of the last few years, are summed up a HavanaTimes.org article today:

• Are Communist Party officials a bit overoptimistic when they say, as they frequently do, that “the future of the Revolution is guaranteed”?
• What will happen when the lives of the current leaders do end?
• Will young Cubans carry on the current economic model?
• (or) Will a new generation of Cubans opt for a less paternalistic and less centralized system?
• (and finally) Will the transition be smooth and gradual, or will there be turmoil?

My own reflections to come.