Talkfests

More than a decade after its last meeting, the Cuban Communist Party is to hold a new national congress to map out the "political future" of the island ... but not until late next year.

Raul Castro announced overnight that the Party congress - the first since 1997 - would take place in the second half of 2009, most probably in Havana.

As you can read in this Associated Press dispatch, Castro II was quoted by the official media as saying the congress would consider a range of issues, including how the Party would cope "when the historic generations are no longer around."

In other words, the congress is likely to "elect" a new party head to replace Fidel Castro, the semi-retired dictator who has not been seen in public since undergoing emergency surgery back in July 2006 ... assuming he hasn't kicked the bucket by then, of course.