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Carter Downplays Castro Succession Rumors

(2006-08-01) — Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter today downplayed rumors that he’s on “the short list” of potential replacements if surgery fails to restore the health of ailing Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

Mr. Carter dismissed as “mere coincidence” that his Op-Ed piece critical of the Bush administration’s foreign policy appeared in The Washington Post the same day that news broke of Mr. Castro’s surgery and temporary transfer of power to his brother Raoul.

But an unnamed source close to the icon of progressive social policy said, “no one in Cuba has the necessary charisma to fill Fidel’s shoes, and no one in the world has demonstrated a greater affinity for Castro’s vision of a progressive social order coupled with a consistent record of working to diminish U.S. power and influence abroad.”