Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Manuel Marrero Cruz is the new prime minister of Cuba. Fidel Castro had named Mr Marrero tourism minister in 2004 and since then overseen tourism to the island. Now Raul Castro has promoted him to prime minister.
Once again many in the news media are claiming that the Castro regime is decentralizing with the re-emergence of the prime minister's post. They are repeating the dictatorship's talking points, and ignoring the facts on the ground recognized by officials. Raul Castro, 86, remains Cuba's ultimate political power as head of the Communist Party.
The post of prime minister in Cuba had existed from 1940 through 1976, and the position was initially created with the ratification of the 1940 Constitution during Cuba's democratic era. The prime minister's position continued during the Batista dictatorship (1952 - 1959) and during the Castro dictatorship (1959 - 1976). During the Castro era, the prime minister for the first 39 days was José Miró Cardona.
This is the only prime minister under the Castro era who was an independent actor, not named Castro.
Therefore, it is important to take a closer look at his trajectory in Cuban politics.
Miró Cardona was a lawyer and professor at the University of Havana, who led the civic opposition to dictator Fulgencio Batista, and was selected prime minister on January 5, 1959. Fidel Castro took over the post of Prime Minister on February 16, 1959 and designated Miró Cardona ambassador to Spain in May 1960. However two months later he had resigned his post and fled to the Argentine Embassy. Miró Cardona entered the United States as an exile in 1960 and within months became the head of Cuban Revolutionary Council which became a principal exile committee working to invade Cuba in 1961. On the eve of the Bay of Pigs invasion José Miró Cardona issued a call to action that correctly predicted the cost of failure.
Fidel Castro would hold the post of Prime Minister from February 16, 1959 until the 1976 Constitution abolished the position and Fidel Castro took the role of president from Osvaldo Dorticos. The position has now been restored in a new Constitution that was drafted in 2018 with Raul Castro presiding over the process and ratified in 2019.
For the record: Raul Castro handed over the office of the presidency to his hand picked successor Miguel Díaz-Canel on April 19, 2018. The Castro regime used this to give the impression that there is a transition underway in Cuba. This is not the case. General Raul Castro remains head of the communist party and controls the military. General Alberto Rodriguez Lopez-Callejas, Raul's son-in-law, runs the Cuban economy. Raul Castro's son, Colonel Alexandro Castro, who negotiated the normalization of relations with the Obama Administration is an intelligence officer with close ties to the secret police.
Diaz-Canel, like Osvaldo Dorticos who was president of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, is a puppet controlled by Raul Castro. The same holds true for Manuel Marrero Cruz as prime minister.
The succession is not to make Miguel Díaz-Canel or Manuel Marrero Cruz the new dictator, but to maintain the Castro dynasty in control of Cuba.
Lamentably, Cuba will have to wait for another with the courage and audacity of a José Miró Cardona to be prime minister of the island nation.
 |
| Raul Castro celebrates selection of his new prime minister Manuel Marrero Cruz |
Manuel Marrero Cruz is the new prime minister of Cuba. Fidel Castro had named Mr Marrero tourism minister in 2004 and since then overseen tourism to the island. Now Raul Castro has promoted him to prime minister.
Once again many in the news media are claiming that the Castro regime is decentralizing with the re-emergence of the prime minister's post. They are repeating the dictatorship's talking points, and ignoring the facts on the ground recognized by officials. Raul Castro, 86, remains Cuba's ultimate political power as head of the Communist Party.
The post of prime minister in Cuba had existed from 1940 through 1976, and the position was initially created with the ratification of the 1940 Constitution during Cuba's democratic era. The prime minister's position continued during the Batista dictatorship (1952 - 1959) and during the Castro dictatorship (1959 - 1976). During the Castro era, the prime minister for the first 39 days was José Miró Cardona.
 |
| Miró Cardona embracing Fidel Castro in 1959 |
Therefore, it is important to take a closer look at his trajectory in Cuban politics.
Miró Cardona was a lawyer and professor at the University of Havana, who led the civic opposition to dictator Fulgencio Batista, and was selected prime minister on January 5, 1959. Fidel Castro took over the post of Prime Minister on February 16, 1959 and designated Miró Cardona ambassador to Spain in May 1960. However two months later he had resigned his post and fled to the Argentine Embassy. Miró Cardona entered the United States as an exile in 1960 and within months became the head of Cuban Revolutionary Council which became a principal exile committee working to invade Cuba in 1961. On the eve of the Bay of Pigs invasion José Miró Cardona issued a call to action that correctly predicted the cost of failure.
To arms, Cubans! We must conquer or we shall die choked by slavery. In the name of God we assure you all that after the victory we will have peace, human solidarity, general well-being and absolute respect for the dignity of all Cubans without exception.The Bay of Pigs was a fiasco that consolidated the Castro regime, and Miró Cardona lived out the rest of his life in exile, dying in Puerto Rico in 1974.
Fidel Castro would hold the post of Prime Minister from February 16, 1959 until the 1976 Constitution abolished the position and Fidel Castro took the role of president from Osvaldo Dorticos. The position has now been restored in a new Constitution that was drafted in 2018 with Raul Castro presiding over the process and ratified in 2019.
For the record: Raul Castro handed over the office of the presidency to his hand picked successor Miguel Díaz-Canel on April 19, 2018. The Castro regime used this to give the impression that there is a transition underway in Cuba. This is not the case. General Raul Castro remains head of the communist party and controls the military. General Alberto Rodriguez Lopez-Callejas, Raul's son-in-law, runs the Cuban economy. Raul Castro's son, Colonel Alexandro Castro, who negotiated the normalization of relations with the Obama Administration is an intelligence officer with close ties to the secret police.
Diaz-Canel, like Osvaldo Dorticos who was president of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, is a puppet controlled by Raul Castro. The same holds true for Manuel Marrero Cruz as prime minister.
The succession is not to make Miguel Díaz-Canel or Manuel Marrero Cruz the new dictator, but to maintain the Castro dynasty in control of Cuba.
Lamentably, Cuba will have to wait for another with the courage and audacity of a José Miró Cardona to be prime minister of the island nation.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment