Castro's Communism "A Work in Progress"
As the dictator misses his 80th birthday party.
Published: 12/5/2006 7:35 AM ET
Marc Lacey reports Sunday from Havana on Fidel Castro's 80th birthday, which the ill dictator missed: "A RareSilence Reverberates in Castro's Long Goodbye."
Lacey summed up Castro's legacy in this graph: "Mr. Castro's Cuba is very much a work in progress. Its education and health care systems are universal, but socialism has not wiped out classism or racism, freedom to speak out is clearly restricted and life for most people is humble, at best."
"Work in progress?" That's a strange way to give the 40-year-old regime a pass - as if there's any chance Castro's brand of communism may start to actually make life better for average Cubans in the future.
