Kicking Off his Sunday Shoes

So, there has been some chatter about Raul's upcoming trips.

It has been confirmed that Raul will be traveling to Brazil for the Latin America and Caribbean Summit at Costa de Sauipe scheduled for December 17th.

It was in yesterday's Granma that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev extended an invitation to Raul to visit Moscow soon, word is he'll be going in January, but it's not official yet.

The Chinese also invited the Cuban President to Beijing...an invitation that would be very hard for Raul to decline since China is Cuba's 2nd largest trading partner.

Furthermore, Raul stated last week that he would be going to Venezuela in his first international trip since coming to power nearly 2 and a half years ago. Raul said "When do we have to go to Venezuela? I do not know anything. But if the nephew said that, we have to go and visit him."

So, it seems Raul will soon be Mr. Footloose. If Venezuela is to be his first trip, he will need to travel there before the 17th, when he is scheduled to be in Brazil. Although he could do both as two legs of the same trip. Which is what I'd expect to see for a Russia and China trip...and I wouldn't write Vietnam off while he's on that sojourn or India, who just donated 2 million USD to Cuba as hurricane relief.

Going further, I'd suggest that these trips he will soon be taking imply that Raul is feeling pretty comfortable at Cuba's helm.