C.Commisso / J. Sahlani
News Reporters

Former Humber student Guio Jacinto says she is happy to see Cuban President Fidel Castro go and his brother Raul step in.

“I am glad he stepped down,” said Jacinto, a former Humber student now studying social and political thought at York University.

“It is time for someone else to continue with what the Cuban Revolution stands for, and hopefully Raul will do better to foment popular, local forms of democracy.”

In a statement published in the Cuban Communist Party newspaper Granma, long standing President Fidel Castro resigned as leader of the communist country.

Cuban Parliament named Raul Castro the nation’s new President on Feb. 24.

Castro temporarily transferred power to Raul, 79, on July 31, 2006, after undergoing intestinal surgery.

“Some say he is more of a hardliner than Fidel, others say he is more open to working with the U.S.,” said Jacinto.

The prospects of Cuba making radical changes to the government are slim. One of the first moves Raul made as president was naming Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, (a 77 year-old who fought with the Castros in the 1950s), Cuba’s deputy leader, passing over Carlos Lage, 56, who advocated reforming Cuba’s ailing market system in the 1990s.

“I don’t see a lot changing to the political scene in terms of having a multi-party system, but if Raul Castro does introduce substantial market reforms into Cuba, I will bet relations with the U.S. will start up again,” said Jacinto.