I was fortunate to hear this author for an hour today. He said things have been run by the army since Castro's stroke ca. 2003, that Raul is nothing.
Amusing dissertation on Khruschev revealing how unhinged he found Castro to be when Fidel kept pressuring him to launch missiles on the U.S.
Fontava said Fidel sent Che to Bolivia to have him hit there with deniability, that Che was no longer useful.
I would say anyone surviving in the Cuban elite for five decades is complicit in the 100,000 murders and not apt to institute democratic reforms.
"As well as being defence minister and first vice-president of the Council of State - the constitutional successor to Fidel - Raúl Castro was vice-secretary of the Politburo and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba. He is also reported to have influenced financial policy from behind the scenes".
"Prior to assuming the presidency, he had indicated that a collective leadership would most likely govern Cuba following his brother's death".