Reading between the lines once more

What a difference a few days can make ... at least when it comes to Cuba, where "reading between the lines" is something of a national pastime.

On Thursday, Raul Castro started welcoming dignitaries arriving in Havana for the Summit of the Non Aligned Movement. He was standing in for Fidel Castro, who is obviously still too sick to make public appearances – regardless of what Kofi Annan described as the dictator’s “firm handshake”.

Throughout, the official propaganda sheet of the regime, Granma, described the younger Castro as “the First Vice President of the Council of State”, making it clear who was in charge. As you can read here.

Today, for the first time as far as we can tell, Granma describes Raul Castro as President of the Council of State and of the Council of Ministers. The big cheese.

Probably a simple sub-editing mistake.