Castro's Clever Patch Job

By DAVID ELLIS

Remember those predictions that Fidel Castro's regime was on the verge of collapse? White House experts have ruefully concluded that after 32 years in control, the old dictator still has staying power. While publicly vowing to maintain Marxist purity, Castro has allowed a number of perestroika-style reforms in the Cuban economy. Among them: linking farm-worker pay to the amount workers produce. The island has signed a $350 million trade deal with Mexico and may reap secondhand benefits when that country completes a long- debated free-trade agreement with the U.S.

With reporting by Linda Williams