Home pagePress CenterIn the Media Peter DeShazo, director of the CSIS Americas Program, was quoted by the Wall Street Journal, “Castro Resignation Opens Path to U.S.-Cuba Détente."
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Peter DeShazo, director of the CSIS Americas Program, was quoted by the Wall Street Journal, “Castro Resignation Opens Path to U.S.-Cuba Détente."
For the first time since a bearded young revolutionary named Fidel Castro overthrew the Cuban government on New Year's Day in 1959, both Cuba and the U.S. are about to change leaders, increasing the chance of a thaw on one of the last remaining fronts of the Cold War.
Yesterday, Mr. Castro, who is 81 years old, said he will step down as Cuba's president, ending his tenure as the world's longest serving head of state. Most Cubans expect his brother Raúl, who is 76, to be named his successor, raising questions about how quickly things will change. Cuba's National Assembly meets on Sunday to ratify a new leadership.
"With [Fidel] still on the scene politically, it had limited Raúl," says Peter DeShazo, a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs. "This frees him up more...it could encourage him to take reforms." Read the article
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