Young Cubans turned off by Castro succession

By Anthony Boadle

HAVANA (Reuters) - Young Cubans frustrated by a regimented and austere life under socialism see little hope of change under the team of old guard revolutionaries who have taken over following Fidel Castro's retirement as president.

Seventy percent of Cuba's 11 million people were born after Castro's 1959 revolution. The younger ones dream of traveling abroad and want access to the Internet, iPods, trendy clothes, music and films.

Many were disappointed when Raul Castro, a 76-year-old army general, succeeded his ailing brother on Sunday as Cuba's first new leader in almost half a century, and other elderly communists were appointed top key posts.

"This is a dynastic succession. Everyone is so disappointed," said Virginia, a teacher who quit her state job earning $19 a month to work as a nanny.

Raul Castro's appointment as president was no surprise, but the new leadership team is more rigid -- and older -- than many young Cubans expected, or would like to see.

Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, a 77-year-old hardliner who fought with the Castro brothers in their guerrilla army in the 1950s, was named as Cuba's new deputy leader.

Carlos Lage, 56, who pushed market reforms in the 1990s and is respected by foreign businessmen, had been expected to take the job but he was passed over.

Young people are tired of poor salaries and food shortages, and feel constrained by a system that offers few opportunities to own nice homes, cars and other consumer goods. Some saw Lage as a leader who might help modernize Cuba.