CASTRO WATCH : Island Mentality

Give Fidel Castro credit. That stubborn old caudillo --the last of Latin America’s political strongmen (one fervently hopes)--is being consistent to the end.

Last weekend Cuba held the fourth Communist Party Congress to be convened there since the 1959 revolution that brought Castro to power. Now, one might think that with the remarkable changes taking place everywhere else in the communist world--not the least being the collapse of Castro’s erstwhile patrons in the Soviet Union--that the Cuban version of communism might be ripe for reform as well.

There was some nibbling around the edges of reform.

A few younger members were elected to the party’s Politburo.

Delegates to Cuba’s National Assembly will now be directly elected by the Cuban people, rather than by communist-dominated local governments.

And non-communists will even be allowed to run for office--although one would be advised to not bet the rent money on their winning.

But there was no talk of directly electing Cuba’s president. Castro stays on top for as long as he wants, apparently. And as long as he stays, he said in a speech to the congress, Cuba will remain a socialist island “surrounded by an ocean of capitalism.”

That’s sad for Cuban people, but at least the rest of us can take some reassurance from the fact that the aging dictator’s bombast doesn’t carry the same impact it did when he had an even bigger bully to back him up.

Eventually--probably soon--Castro’s time will come too.