The Party and the Army - Civil-Military Relations in Cuba

The Party and the Army: Civil-Military Relations in Cuba

Posted: 06/26/2014 1:02 pm EDT Updated: 06/26/2014 2:59 pm EDT



When Raúl Castro became president of Cuba in his own right in 2008, he

replaced most of his brother Fidel's cabinet with ministers of his own

choosing. In March 2009, he announced a sweeping reorganization of the

government bureaucracy, replacing nine veteran ministers and firing

Fidel's proteges, Carlos Lage, the de facto prime minister, and Felipe

Pérez-Roque, the foreign minister. By 2012, across 26 ministries, only

three of Fidel's appointees were still in office. Raúl's new ministers

came from the ranks of experienced professionals, a number of them from

the armed forces.



Today, eight ministries are led by career military officers, three of

whom are still on active duty. Of the 10 vice-presidents of the Council

of Ministers, five are active-duty or former career military officers,

not counting Raúl himself. Of the 13 members of the Political Bureau of

the Cuban Communist Party, four are active-duty generals and another is

retired military, again not counting Raúl.



Both in Cuba and abroad, the prominence of so many senior officers in

civilian posts has prompted speculation about a military "takeover" of

the Cuban government. But to regard this circulation of elites as

breaching some clear divide between civilian and military roles is to

misunderstand the nature of civil-military relations in Cuba...



Source: The Party and the Army: Civil-Military Relations in

Cuba | William M. LeoGrande -

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-m-leogrande/the-party-and-the-army-ci_b_5533144.html