  
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Behind
Raul, generals rule
They are
proven loyalists to Castro, but analysts wonder whether divisions
and jealousies among the military brass could eventually threaten
the stability of a socialist system whose singular force , Fidel
Castro, appears unlikely to return to full strength after intestinal
surgery. "There is talk of the military having potential tensions and divisions that will surface once Fidel Castro dies," said Frank Mora, a Cuba military expert at The National War College in Washington, D.C. "These disagreements certainly exist, but at this moment of uncertainty their common interests will trump whatever cleavages do exist," Mora said. "They feel they owe everything to the revolution." The ailing Fidel Castro failed to appear in public last week during the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Havana. Acting as his stand-in, Raul Castro met with world leaders and delivered a fiery speech on Friday that blamed the U.S. for a plethora of global problems. In the decades before Fidel Castro's health crisis, Raul prepared for this moment by placing allies in key economic and political positions while building the 55,000-strong armed forces into Cuba's most powerful and respected institution. Six generals on Politburo Six generals are on the Communist Party's 21-member Politburo, one of Cuba's most important policymaking bodies. Aside from Raul Castro, the most prominent military leader is Gen. Abelardo Colome Ibarra, the 66-year-old interior minister who controls police and intelligence services. A second top general is Julio Casas Regueiro, head of a military-run holding company called GAESA that manages much of Cuba's lucrative tourist industry along with agriculture, import-export businesses, retail stores and other enterprises. Also on the party's Politburo is Gen. Ulises Rosales del Toro, former chief of the general staff of the armed forces and now Cuba's sugar minister responsible for overhauling what was once the nation's most important industry. Two military commanders, Gen. Ramon Espinosa Martin and Gen. Leopoldo Cintra Frias, also sit on the Politburo, which is rounded out by veteran officials such as National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon and younger leaders like economic czar Carlos Lage Davila. At the top of the leadership pyramid, however, is Raul Castro, a collegial yet exacting leader who has lived in his older brother's shadow but also is his most trusted adviser and most valuable asset. "Raul has been the only true indispensable man in this revolution after Fidel," said Brian Latell, a former CIA analyst on Cuba who has written a book detailing the relationship between Raul and Fidel Castro. "Raul has been the manager from the very beginning," he said. "He compensates for all of Fidel's organizational weaknesses." After the revolution's triumph in 1959, Raul Castro used massive assistance from the Soviet Union to transform a ragtag rebel army into one of the most formidable military forces in Latin America. At its peak, Cuba's armed forces numbered about 250,000 troops. Its soldiers and advisers were dispatched to buttress leftist regimes and insurgencies from Nicaragua to Vietnam to Angola to Ethiopia. The military also got high marks for its deft handling of the Cuban economy after the Soviet Union's collapse. Absent several billion dollars a year in Soviet subsidies, Cuba went into a tailspin and its armed forces imploded in the early 1990s. Cuba's troop
strength was cut sharply, tanks and other weapons were mothballed
because of a dearth of gasoline and spare parts, and soldiers say
there wasn't even enough food. In response,
Raul Castro decided the armed forces had to develop their own income
sources outside the national budget, and have since become the primary
engine powering the economy, experts say. Military-run companies also provide lucrative jobs to many current and former officers, giving them a powerful incentive to continue supporting Cuba's single-party system. Yet some Cubans regard Raul Castro as cold and dogmatic, and they fear he will intensify internal repression. This perception endures despite his reputation among several Havana-based diplomats as a pragmatist who solicits advice from others. '89 execution spurs bitterness Some of the bitterness toward Raul Castro dates back to the 1989 execution of Gen. Arnaldo Ochoa, one of the revolution's most decorated heroes. The former commander of Cuban forces in Angola and Ethiopia faced the firing squad for drug trafficking. Raul Castro had argued for the death penalty, saying anything less for Ochoa and his collaborators would set an "ominous precedent for impunity." Some Cubans believe the punishment exceeded the crime, especially in light of Ochoa's exemplary military record. Others suggest the real reason for Ochoa's execution was the Castros felt threatened by the popularity of the young, charismatic general. "It was really awful," said an Angola war veteran who described Ochoa as a "great man." "They made an example of him to give a warning to others." After the Ochoa execution, Raul Castro created more enemies by taking over the Interior Ministry, which runs Cuba's police force and domestic security apparatus. Several hundred Interior Ministry officials were transferred to lesser posts or purged during the takeover. Nonetheless, while U.S. officials are pledging support for opposition activists and on Friday called on Raul Castro to submit to a referendum on whether he should continue to govern Cuba, experts say the military elite is loyal to Raul. In a show of unity, Raul Castro last month appointed Ramiro Valdes, a former rival and guerrilla war commander, as Cuba's minister of information and communications. Valdes was dismissed as interior minister in 1985 under pressure from Raul Castro and disappeared from the political scene until his rehabilitation. "Even if there are dissidents among the high-ranking officers there is no chance that any of them would come out for their own safety," said one Havana-based diplomat. "Most high officials are worried about their positions and their lives."
|