HAVANA — The college students of a surprised Cuba sang karaoke on Thursday afternoon beside a dark green tank memorializing the Cuban revolution. They played dominoes in the shade of the University of Havana law school, where Fidel Castro found his footing as a leader with a pistol at his side.  When asked about the historic shift by the United States to ease its trade embargo and pursue normalized relations with Cuba, they spoke first of what it meant for the Cuban people, then of what it said about President Obama, and finally, a few mentioned the boldness of President Raúl Castro.  They said nothing of Fidel.  At a moment described by many as an equivalent to the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the absence of Fidel Castro — he has said nothing about it, and has not appeared in public for months — spoke volumes. For many Cubans, it confirmed that Fidel, perhaps by his own design, is slipping further into the past, into history, at a time when his approach to the United States seems to be fading as well.  “It’s a break with the past, and a transition,” said Jorge Luis Rivero González, 26, a master’s student in information technology. “What we have now is hope for a new path. We don’t know what’s coming, but it better be good.”  Fidel is still an imposing figure in the Cuban consciousness, a leader so venerable and fiercely protected that many avoid talking about him at all. Few here or in Washington, where the name Fidel is often shorthand for communist revolution itself, suggested that détente with the United States could have happened without his approval.  Some of the former leader’s most loyal followers here have even described Mr. Obama’s recognition of Cuba with a Castro still in power as a final triumph for Fidel — a formal nod of respect that the old guerrillero has demanded since 1959.  There was even some Fidel-like braggadocio in the speech by his brother Raúl, who celebrated the return on Wednesday of Cuba’s three convicted spies from the United States with a rare flair for theatrics. After years of appearing mostly in a suit, Raúl was careful to wear his military uniform, linking the prisoners’ release to “Comrade Fidel” and his promise years ago to bring the men home.  Some experts argued that it was yet another sign that on big, geopolitical questions, the Castro brothers largely remain in sync.  “Raúl and Fidel have no daylight between them on things like this,” said Julia Sweig, a scholar at the Council on Foreign Relations who studies Cuba. “They have been in complete lock step on Cuban foreign policy.”  And yet the new Cuba that Raúl is fashioning from the old is a far cry from Fidel’s youthful revolution. Today’s Cuba seems less concerned with ideals than dollars. It is a hatchery of private enterprise and nascent inequality, where property can be bought and sold, along with cars and filet mignon. It is a proud country, tired of struggling, where the poor can see the rich rising along the way to Raúl’s stated goals: economic growth and stability.  “Raúl is a pragmatist; he is not a mindless idealist,” said Brian Latell, a former Central Intelligence Agency analyst who has written books on the Castros. “Fidel has always been the heavy anchor on change and reform.”  Perhaps the difference is that now, with Cuba’s economy still on the edge of collapse, that weight seems to be lifting as Fidel fades further from view.  Young Cubans like Honey Hernan, 14, who was walking home from school on Thursday past the Museum of the Revolution, can hardly remember a time when Fidel was a recognizable presence. “He’s never really on TV,” she said. “It’s really just Raúl.”  Little of the gated, heavily guarded compound where Fidel lives in west Havana is even visible from the street. Much of what is known of it comes from the pictures and videotapes of buildings and landscaped gardens that associates of the family have leaked over the years.  Some older Cubans, like Prospero Gamboa, 68, who was discussing the new era with friends on a street corner in Old Havana, noted that the deal with the United States had been set in motion with the economic changes that Raúl established starting in 2006, when he first stepped in for an ailing Fidel.  “This has been building,” Mr. Gamboa said. “There’s been a change in the mentality.”  This waning of Fidel is the norm even in some of the places where he defined his destiny. In the lobby of the University of Havana Law School, a poster offered students a chance to study his famous defense after being arrested for storming the Moncada barracks in 1953, when he said, “History will absolve me.” But the poster was only one of many offerings, with others promoting live music or posting final grades and student election results.  If anything, the university and a half-dozen other stops across Havana on Thursday seemed to demonstrate what many Cubans describe as the new reality: Fidel Castro is increasingly a figure of the Cold War, to be celebrated, scrutinized, reviled — but almost never experienced.  It is not the principles that have changed, many students emphasized. Equality and sovereignty are among the most cited virtues by young, passionate Cubans following in Fidel’s academic footsteps. But to many of them, the relentless campaign against the ever-present enemy of the United States — Fidel’s lifelong mission — seems as dated as the tanks that dot the campus and countless public spaces all over Havana.  Cubans of all ages now say that there are simply too many relatives in the United States who come back to visit regularly to justify the idea of perpetual conflict.  “It’s the same revolution in a totally different phase,” said Anabel Bollet, 22, a fifth-year law student. The changes announced this week, she said, amount to a historic but subtle “adjustment.” It is not peace. Rather, she added, “it’s a way to resolve the conflict without guns.”  To some degree, many Cubans argued, the openness of Mr. Obama and Raúl to normalized political relations amounts to a classic case of government catching up with the people.  Ever since Mr. Obama opened unlimited travel and remittances to Cuban-Americans in 2009, followed by Raúl’s easing of limits on travel for Cubans, a steady flow of Cubans and dollars has strengthened the filial bonds that were severed during the revolution between Cubans on opposite sides of the Florida straits.  This is the United States-Cuba relationship that a growing number of Cubans know, understand and cherish, no matter where they are. The distrust and defiance that their leaders are only now addressing is more of a backdrop.  It was no coincidence that on Thursday, when asked who would benefit most from the new thaw, many Cubans answered “the Cuban people,” even before they were asked to choose between Raúl Castro and Mr. Obama.  That was true for loyal Fidelistas and for stiff-backed critics of Fidel’s government.  Nor was it a surprise that there was only one person outside the United States Interests Section on Thursday morning: a woman with a broom who was sweeping up outside a monument painted in large block letters with the Cuban government’s message declaring “patria o muerte” (fatherland or death”) and “venceremos” (we will overcome).  A block away, hundreds of Cubans of all ages gathered in a small park, carefully holding folders of documents, waiting to be told where to stand to get an American tourist visa to visit their sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, or fathers and mothers in Miami and beyond.  Randal C. Archibold contributed reporting from Mexico City.  A version of this article appears in print on December 19, 2014, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Focusing on Its Future, Nation Leaves Fidel Castro to History. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
Fidel Castro, a venerable figure to generations of Cubans, is fading into history as his more pragmatic brother, Raúl, reshapes the nation.