Fidel Castro Resigns from Cuban Communist Party

After almost 50 years in power and several years as a member of the Communist Party’s central committee, Fidel Castro has officially resigned. Whether that means anything for the embargo, I’m not sure, but it has given him the opportunity to say some things that he might not have necessarily said while in a leadership position.

According to an article in the International Business Times, Fidel has called on the young generation of leadership to “rectify and change without hesitation everything that should be rectified and changed,” in relation to Cuba’s ever-shifting economy. Cuban President Raul Castro, Fidel’s younger brother, said that the current party leadership, “was in need of renewal and should subject itself to severe self-criticism,” in an article in Business Insider.

Hopefully this marks a turnaround, not just for the Cuban government, which has been gradually changing for the better, but rather for the United States’ perception of one of our closest neighbors. At present, about 7 percent of all imported goods in Cuba come from the U.S., so you can bet we’re already making a few dollars off of them. If should be time that they can, in turn, make a little money off of us, so they won’t have to resort to more measures as desperate as devaluing their own currency, which they did last month.

Fidel Castro will not be attending the Sixth Congress of the Cuban Communist Party, where new leadership will be voted in. “There is no margin for error in this moment in human history,” he said of the transition.

On an immediate note, I’m not sure if this means that we’re one step closer to having a few 100 percent legal Cuban cigars in our humidors, but hopefully this at least marks a step in that direction.