Castro's Final Hour: The Secret Story Behind the Coming Downfall of Communist Cuba

Drawing on his five trips to Cuba during the past two years, Miami Herald foreign correspondent Oppenheimer presents a revelatory close-up of a Cuba few outsiders have glimpsed. Following the Soviet Union's massive withdrawal of subsidies, Castro imposed an austerity program, with bicycles and oxen replacing autos. The health care system has rapidly deteriorated, reports the author, who explains the Cuban masses' inertia as primarily due to fear of a repressive government apparatus. He portrays Castro as an increasingly paranoid megalomaniac who believes his own disinformation campaign. He found rampant discrimination against blacks and mulattos, who nevertheless, he claims, support Castro's tyranny lest the white Miami crowd return to power. He interviewed Castro's daughter Alina, who condemns the dictatorship; Che Guevara's grandson Canek, a heavy-metal rock musician; and scores of disaffected students, workers and government officials. Opening wth a long set piece on the 1989 execution of four military officers, the book also explores the covert ties Castro forged with Manuel Noriega and the Sandinistas. Photos. (July)