HAVANA — Raul Castro proposed term limits for Cuban politicians Saturday — including himself — a remarkable gesture on an island ruled for 52 years by him and his brother.
The 79-year-old president lamented the lack of young leaders in government, saying the country was paying the price for errors made in the past.
Castro told delegates to a crucial Communist Party summit that he would launch a “systematic rejuvenation” of the government. He said politicians and other important officials should be restricted to two five-year terms, including “the current president of the Council of State and his ministers” — a reference to himself.
Castro officially took over from his brother Fidel in 2008, meaning he would be at least 86 when his second term as Cuban leader ended, depending on how the law is written.
The proposal was made in the latter stage of a 2 1/2-hour speech in which the Cuban leader forcefully backed a laundry list of economic changes to the country’s socialist system, including the eventual elimination of the ration book and other subsidies, the decentralization of the economy, and a new reliance on supply and demand in some sectors.
Still, he drew a line in the Caribbean sand across which of the reforms must never go, telling party luminaries that he had rejected dozens of suggested reforms that would have allowed the concentration of property in private hands.
Castro said the country had ignored its problems for too long and made clear Cuba had to make tough decisions if it wanted to survive.
“No country or person can spend more than they have,” he said. “Two plus two is four. Never five, much less six or seven — as we have sometimes pretended.”
Dressed in a white guayabera shirt, the Cuban leader alternated between reassurance that the economic changes were compatible with socialism and a brutal assessment of what has not worked in the past.
Fidel Castro was not present for the speech, but a chair was left empty for him near Raul.
