TRUST, BUT VERIFY:

Raúl Castro gives signals that Cuba will change ()James C. McKinley Jr., February 26, 2008, NY Times)

Most Cubans seem unwilling to believe it yet, but there are reasons to think a turning point has come to the island, and Raúl Castro plans to chart a different course for the communist state than his older brother, Fidel.

Raúl Castro's willingness in his first international meeting to embrace the Vatican's top diplomat, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, a possible go-between with the United States and Europe, fits with his pragmatic, no-nonsense style.

It is just one of many signs the newly appointed 76-year-old president has given that he will be a more practical leader than his more doctrinaire and romantic brother, who ran this country for 49 years as if it were his own business, signing off on almost every government decision.

Raúl Castro has said the government needs to shrink. He has promised "structural changes" and "big decisions" in the near future. "We have to make our government's management more efficient," he said Sunday, adding, "We have to plan well and we cannot spend more than we have."

Forget the intermediary, W should go there himself and offer to lift the embargo and give back Gitmo in exchange for a prisoner release, free trade agreement and elections.

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 27, 2008 9:00 AM