raul castro is trying to do what so many autocrats do. reform fast enough to fix the sluggish economy but slow enough for the communist party to maintain control of it. well, now cuba's transition to openness may have suffered a major set back given the news of its renewed alliance with russia. but the united states is guilty as well, of empowering the stalinists within cuba's government who are making the road to capitalism hard and slow. what is washington doing? maintaining its highly ineffective 50 year embargo against cuba. every year for the past 22 years the united nations has demanded an end to no avail. the embargo,en exclusion from institutions like the world bank, have isolated cuba from america and from its influences and it has allowed countries like china, the second largest trading partner, to make deals with havana. it's not just putin who is coming in the cold past, it's washington as well. up next, you will hear about a plant that eats nuclear waste, is relatively inexpensive, and doesn't have the same dangers as fukushi

putin visited cuba and met with the castro brothers. raul and fide will who have run cuba almost six decades. ties between russia and cuba hit a low point after the 1991 collapse of the soviet union at tend of the last cold war, but russia has hit the reset button hard on relations with havana. putin wanted to create growing cooperation between russia and cuba. in february, russian's defense minister began talks with cuba and venezuela and nicaragua about accomplishing just 90- miles from florida, russian military bases. cuba ran up a debt to russia dating back to the soviet era of $35 million. on his july trip, president putin waived $32 billion in debt. also, new commercial agreements on energy and trade were inkedly vlad and rauol. mr. putin wants to invest in the creation of a grand transportation hub with modernization of the maritime port of mariel. patrolling projects on the islands north coast including drilling for new oil and potentially vast volume offshore deposit. next stop, argentina. president putin visited their president fer

castro. >> with the inauguration of a photo exhibition dedicated to him. ill health forced him from office six years ago. his brother raul took over but fidel still wields a powerful influence over the running of the country as he has since he led his revolution to victory. >> alberto is the same age of a fidel and fought to overthrow the regime. >> he knew how to lead a good revolution. it's not the same now. he wanted it to be more for the youngsters to lead. but it's not like that. >> reporter: he's 78 years old, and like all cubans, he has only known life with fidel castro at the helm. >> we learned about the importance of the figure of fidel and how relevant he was. in the grade i'm in now we're taught about the triumph of the revolution and the leadership of commander fidel. >> reporter: but he's 88 years old and reported to be frail. he can't go on forever. >> he'll definitely continue because did he so much. his figure is present in everything that we've achieved up until now. >> reporter: love fidel or hate him, there are plenty over both sides. it's difficult for many cubans to envision life without him. fidel