Castro in decline but where next for Cuba

Castro is in decline. Even his close friend Chavez says the dictator of Cuba is fighting a battle for his life.

Following his surgery 6 months ago Castro has suffered a series of medical setbacks and it looks like the old man of Communism (Castro is 80) is no longer likely to recover. Officials have stopped insisting that Castro's handover of power was temporary.

However what Castro's protracted illness has done is given the new Cuban leadership an easy six months to settle in and consolidate their power. When Castro does die he will leave behind him no questions of leadership or authority as it has all been settled now.

This will be a blow to those who expected the end of Communism in Cuba to happen with end of Castro himself.

It is nothing short of revolutionary in itself that power has shifted over so peacefully from Castro with any protests, uproar or trouble. Read more about it here

But where next for Cuba? Cuba most transform itself from a communist state to a socialist one and this can only be done by the US raising its trading embargo and by the support of the EU and other power blocks in fending off US interference in Cuban affairs.

If the new Cuban rulers do not make the changes now, they will be forced upon them later. A velvet revolution is what Cuba needs. It needs to transform into a socialist democracy along the lines of Eastern Europe not along the lines of Russia or China which are already being invaded by US corporations eager to "reform" their systems in versions of the US's.

Cuba needs european style socialism not US style captialism.