Fidel: 'Cuban Model Doesn't Even Work For Us'

Fidel Castro doesn't seem thrilled with the way his revolution is working out. Asked by Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic whether the Cuban model should be exported, he came back with this remarkable reply: "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore." Whaa? Goldberg gets help interpreting from a friend and regional scholar, who says Castro wasn't dissing the "ideas of the revolution," but acknowledging that the state has become bloated.

The statement could be a way for Castro to give political breathing room to his brother Raul for economic reforms, she speculated. To read the first part of the interview, in which Castro blasted anti-Semitism and seemed to second-guess his own actions during the Cuban missile crisis, click here. Goldberg plans another installment tomorrow.
(More Fidel Castro stories.)