News reports and analyses published in leading Western newspapers claim the turnaround in Cuba's home policy was due to the country's current leader Raul Castro, who wished to get rid of high-ranking officials that have worked in the government since Fidel Castro's days, and to strengthen his own team.
But a day later, the leader of the Cuban Revolution himself made public his comments on what happened. In an article entitled "Healthy Changes in the Council of Ministers," Fidel criticized those dismissed by saying that "the honey of power... awakened in them ambitions to seek an unworthy role."
What strikes the eye in the current shakeup is the dismissal of Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Peres Roque and the stripping of Carlos Lage of his post as secretary of the Council of Ministers.
Roque led Cuban diplomacy for almost ten years, the last of which were marked by signal successes in foreign policy. During this period Havana strengthened its positions in the region, not limiting itself to contacts with its traditional partners - Venezuela and Bolivia. One of the key results of the recent period has been Cuba's resumption of full-scale ties with Moscow.
It is quite likely that the changes in the Cuban foreign policy leadership were made in anticipation of a long-awaited turn in U.S. policy towards Cuba - many hope that Obama will ease, if not lift, the blockade. Some evidence in favor of this idea is provided by the fact that Roque's deputy Bruno Rodriguez has replaced Roque after working in the UN as Cuban representative for nine years. But no immediate breakthroughs are expected on this front: Cuba is skeptical about initiatives coming from the new U.S. administration.
On the other hand, Carlos Lage, the sacked secretary of the Council of Ministers, is described as one of the brains behind the economic reforms in Cuba in the 1990s. The fact that Lage is being replaced by Brigadier General Jose Amado Ricardo Guerra, who worked under Raul Castro for many years, and also the appointment of Brigadier General Salvador Pardo Cruz as Minister of the Metals Industry, is evidence of a certain strengthening of army positions in the government. On the whole, this is a sign of pragmatism in domestic policy, a kind of preparation for a decisive campaign to upgrade the economy and adapt it to present-day realities made worse by the global economic crisis.
It can be said with a large degree of confidence that whatever reshuffles are made inside Cuba, its relations with Russia will keep their priority. Appointments a week ago of Telecommunications and Information Minister Ramiro Valdez and Transport Minister Jorge Sierra as deputy prime ministers is a forceful, if indirect, confirmation of that fact. Together with Deputy Prime Minister Ricardo Cabrisas, who leads the Cuban part of the Russian-Cuban inter-governmental commission, they oversee those sectors of the economy where Russian-Cuban cooperation is at its most active.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
