Where Is Cuba's Leader?

MIAMI, Aug. 2, 2006 — -- On the streets of Cuba today there is a mystery -- where's the boss?

Since Raul Castro officially became Cuba's interim president Monday, filling in for his ailing brother, Fidel Castro, no one has seen him.

"He should have appeared by now," said bookseller Rolando Anderson.

No one has seen Fidel Castro either, whose health has been failing in public for several years.

The leader's signature now appears on a statement saying, "I am in good spirits." But for security reasons his true condition remains a state secret.

But why is the new interim president keeping his own whereabouts a state secret?

"In the next few days, he should step forward and let people see him. Otherwise there will be all kinds of speculation," said Wayne Smith the former chief U.S. diplomat to Havana.

In Miami, the news of Fidel Castro's improving help has dampened the celebrations that surged through Little Havana when the Cuban president's illness was announced. The parties have been replaced by a new preoccupation -- conspiracy theories. Questions are swirling about whether Castro's signature might have been forged, or if a power struggle is under way.

"It's always been a conspiracy. They'll tell you one thing and do another," said Cuban-American Armando Villasuso.

Clearly something is going on in Cuba. Some day we will know what it means.