HAVANA – It would be easy for Raul Castro to make headlines in a major Revolution Day speech today. All he has to do is bring up the 52 political prisoners he has agreed to release, or discuss plans to open the island’s communist economy.Of course, nothing Cuba’s 79-year-old president says will mean as much as whether elder brother Fidel is standing by his side. A recent spate of appearances by the revolutionary leader after four years of near-total seclusion has got everybody talking. Could this be Fidel’s coming out party?“If Fidel is there it will cause a huge stir. It will be very important,” said Wayne Smith, a former top American diplomat in Havana and senior fellow at the Washington-based Centre for International Policy.He said the elder Castro brother’s presence would make clear to many in Washington that the 83-year old revolutionary still has a strong hand in affairs of state. (AP)
