On January 1, 2006, Fidel Castro celebrated his 47th year in power. Castro’s grip on power is as strong today as it has ever been. Fidel’s younger brother (and fellow septuagenarian) Raul, is his apparent successor. Although the regime stumbled economically following the end of Soviet subsidies, its economy seems to be recovering with the infusion of Venezuelan oil and money, estimated by some to exceed the Soviet era subsidies. The regime’s Marxist ideology is finding traction in some Latin American countries where sympathetic regimes have been democratically elected. (fragment)