Cuba's economic czar heads new generation of leaders

Cuba's economic czar heads new generation of leaders
By Andrea Rodriguez
Associated Press
5:24 p.m., Monday, July 4, 2011

HAVANA — When Raul Castro acknowledged recently that it was time to hand
over power to younger leaders, few were expecting the 80-year-old
president to name somebody even older than himself as his No. 2.

But at least one figure from Cuba's post-Revolution baby boom is on the
rise: Marino Murillo Jorge has been charged with implementing
make-or-break economic reforms designed to both loosen the state's
ironclad control and save Cuban socialism.

The blunt-talking, 50-year-old economist stands at the head of a very
small class of relatively prominent, relatively youthful Cuban officials
who have broken out of obscurity and taken up positions alongside the
silver-haired generation that has ruled this island since 1959.

A stocky man in an XXL guayabera shirt, Mr. Murillo is more technocrat
than charismatic orator, but he just might have a key role in the
island's post-Castro future — if he stays in favor that long.

Mr. Murillo's age sets him apart from most of the other 14 members of
the Communist Party's ruling council, which is headed by Raul Castro and
First Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, also an octogenarian.

Rapid ascent has sometimes been perilous under Fidel and Raul Castro. In
2009, two rising stars thought to be possible successors, Foreign
Minister Felipe Perez Roque and Vice President Carlos Lage, were fired
and shamed in the official news media before disappearing from the
public eye.

Still, Raul Castro said at a Party Congress in April that the time is
near when a new generation of leaders must take the reins, and he
announced term limits for all political offices.

He said officials erred in the past by promoting the wrong young people,
not by undercutting them, and that leadership changes could be in store
at a party gathering in January.

"The very top level of government and party leadership remains almost
entirely in the hands of the revolutionary generation, of the oldest
generation," said Philip Peters, a Cuba analyst with the Virgina-based
Lexington Institute. "So the task remains to bring younger leaders into
the top leadership."

And yet the only two new appointments to the national party's ruling
council in April are relatively young: Mr. Murillo and 46-year-old
Havana Communist Party boss Mercedes Lopez Acea.

Up-and-comers in influential positions elsewhere include Lazaro
Exposito, the 50-something regional party chief in Santiago de Cuba, and
Miguel Diaz Canel, the 51-year-old higher education minister.

Both Mr. Exposito and Mr. Diaz took up those posts in 2009 in Raul
Castro's government.

Mr. Murillo is Raul Castro's economic czar, tasked with guiding Cuba
through what is arguably its greatest challenge since the "special
period" of the early 1990s, when billions in aid and trade from Moscow
disappeared along with the Soviet Union.

Few details about Mr. Murillo are a matter of public record, including
basic questions such as where he lives, whether he's married or if he
has any children.

Multiple requests by the Associated Press to interview Mr. Murillo or
other officials were not granted, and his bare-bones Communist Party bio
gives only his date of birth, education and a brief rundown of his prior
posts.

Mr. Murillo was born in 1961, two years after the triumph of Fidel
Castro's revolution and as the bearded leader was proclaiming the
socialist nature of his government. He was active in the youth wing of
the Communist Party.

Trained as an economist, he began his career at low-level government
jobs and rose gradually through several ministries. Mr. Murillo joined
the Communist Party in the early 1990s and studied at the military
School of National Defense, though his position in the armed forces is
not known.

He was also a professor at the Central University of Las Villas and
studied in the former Soviet Union. Mr. Murillo's style is far from
academic, however. His speech is simple, and his body language is more
befitting a bureaucrat or accountant.

His longtime ties to Cuba's party, military and government officialdom
are an advantage as he works with the old guard to institute reform,
said University of Denver lecturer Arturo Lopez-Levy, a Cuban-born
economist.

And Mr. Murillo's low-key manner could help him avoid the fate of
politicos such as Mr. Perez Roque and Mr. Lage, whom Fidel Castro
accused of having unseemly ambitions.

"With little apparent aspirations for power, Murillo has developed a
reputation as a cautious reformer," Mr. Lopez-Levy said.

In 2006, Mr. Murillo received his first top-tier assignment as interior
commerce minister amid rumors of mismanagement under his predecessor.

State-run news media quoted Mr. Murillo as saying he was prepared to go
through inventory burlap sack by burlap sack to crack down on theft from
state warehouses.

Still, he was practically unknown until he became economy minister in
early 2009, chosen by Raul Castro to navigate the waters of economic
reform without capsizing the revolution's achievements in health,
education and welfare. That December, he became a member of the Council
of State.

The following year, he appeared before parliament to explain the
economic changes that would affect everything from transportation and
tourism to the subsidized monthly ration card, which Cubans rely on for
many basic goods. Mr. Murillo answered questions directly and confidently.

"This seems complicated but it's not that complicated," Mr. Murillo said
of a new tax code under which thousands of newly authorized independent
workers would pay a sliding scale based on their earnings. "Those who
have to pay will figure it out quickly."

The sessions were broadcast nationwide and cemented Mr. Murillo's arrival.

"The Cuban people saw him for a day and a half on television last
December when he explained and defended the new policies in the
legislature, including exchanges with Raul Castro," Mr. Peters said.

"He dealt with such sensitive matters as layoffs and the reduction of
subsidies, always with the assuredness of a man with political backing
from on high."

In March, Mr. Murillo was promoted to head a commission overseeing both
the Economy Ministry and the economic changes. Among his tasks is to
improve efficiency, slash bloated state spending and allow greater space
for small private enterprise.

Mr. Murillo's political staying power may be closely linked to how well
Cuba weathers that storm. While it is too early to anoint him as a
possible successor to the Castros, no other young leader enjoys as much
power and prominence.

"He's a figure who's clearly very trusted by Raul Castro," Mr. Peters
said. "He's working at the center of the most important strategic
initiative of the country, and he is the person of the next generation
whose profile has increased more than anyone else's. Where that leads,
who knows?"

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