What Happens After Fidel Castro Dies?

It may be hard for people either in Cuba or the United States to believe, but Fidel Castro is definitely human and his time is running out. Having come to power in Cuba in 1959, Castro is the longest serving head of government of any nation in world history. His legacy is written in the blood of the people he persecuted and in the ruins of the once great island he helped destroy. This week Fidel turned power over to his brother Raul while he had to undergo surgery for an intestinal problem. This sudden action is the first of the final ticks of the clock in the life and rule of Fidel Castro.

It will be interesting to see how Raul Castro acts during his "temporary" hold on power. Raul was a Communist long before Fidel was and is said to be determined on tightening the grip of Communism over Cuba. He is not a great thinker, but he is a brilliant tactician and brute force is much more dangerous and frightening than brainwashing. Raul is an old man himself and even though he may come into power soon, his reign will not last for more than a decade. Either way, a power grab is about to engulf Cuba for another time in its history and this time the United States of America must not drop the ball as they did with every previous power vacuum in Cuba.

Once the vacuum presents itself, the United States needs to assert some kind of authority on the island. This authority can be either relief work for a poor and hungry people or a military occupation to help stamp out the violence that will be unleashed when a long oppressed people burst open like a can of soda which has been shaken. Of course the citizenry of the United States will not be quick to send its military in to occupy another country finally released from a Stalinist dictatorship after the fiasco of Iraq, but a military option is possibly the only viable option. There is already a United States military presence on the island and so it will be easier to occupy. Also, an occupation on an island so close to American shores makes it easier to install Cuba as the 51st state in the union.

Many Cubans will probably be resistant to the idea of statehood in the beginning, but their resistance will subside. Statehood will offer three things the Cuban people have long desired: democracy, more stable economic security and a solid defense against anyone who might wish to become the island's new dictator. Americans will probably be very resistant to the idea of bringing Cuba into the union as well. Statehood is a slow process and helping stabilize a new state is an even harder process. Americans have shown a great impatience when it comes to having to support a foreign people over a long period of time.

Yet, as with the Cuban resistance, American resistance against Cuban statehood will subside as well. The reason American resistance will subside is the fact that having Cuba as a state is beneficial to the overall GNP of the United States of America. There are two main reasons for this. The first reason is the fact that Cuba once was and could be again a tourist hotspot. It is the only island that is missing from a Caribbean cruise and if tourists could, they would flock to the island and tourism is always beneficial to the whole overall country, which in this case would be the United States.

The next beneficial reason is Cuba's natural crop of sugar. Sugar cannot be grown all over the world. It needs the right climate and Cuba has possibly the best climate for sugar. Besides the use of sugar as an edible substance, other uses are being found for sugar. One of those uses is as an alternative fuel.

If the United States can gain control over the best sugar crop in the world, it can have the monopoly on any alternative fuel that can be developed from sugar. Oil is running out and an alternative fuel would be a goldmine. The best thing is that sugar is a renewable resource. All of this will combine to add more and more power to the GNP of the United States.

Making Cuba a state can benefit all parties involved. The time to move is in the next few years. The power vacuum is starting to expand and it will peak quickly and then disappear. If the United States lets another chance of controlling Cuba slip through its fingers than it could be another half century before the opportunity presents itself again. During that time, the United States could be in such a destabilized position it wouldn't have the strength to grab power in Cuba then. Castro is near death and the rule of his brother will not last long; the United States has to have a working, viable option ready to go as soon as the old government starts burning its documents to hide its wrong deeds from the world once it begins to crumble.