Raúl Castro ends 'provisional' leadership of Cuba

Raúl Castro ends 'provisional' leadership of Cuba
Posted on Tue, Apr. 29, 2008
By RUIT FERREIRA and WILFREDO CANCIO ISLA
El Nuevo Herald

T6V Cubana channel showed Cuban President Raul Castro delivering a speech during a meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Havana Monday. Castro called for the sixth Congress of the Communist Party to be held in the second half of 2009
STR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
T6V Cubana channel showed Cuban President Raul Castro delivering a speech during a meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Havana Monday. Castro called for the sixth Congress of the Communist Party to be held in the second half of 2009

Cuban leader Raúl Castro has put an end to his country's nearly two-year ''provisional'' period, increasing the powers of old functionaries in the Communist Party who also make up the hierachy of the governing Council of State appointed in February.

Castro not only reformed the Politburo by promoting three new members and creating an oversight commission, but he also announced the convening of the VI Congress of the Cuban Communist Party -- the first such gathering in a dozen years set to take place sometime in the second half of 2009.

The announcement made on Cuban television Monday night and reported in state-controlled media Tuesday is viewed as a return to a more institutionalized power structure. Cuba has been functioning in a provisional mode since Fidel Castro fell ill in July 2006. Raúl Castro was formally named president in February.

During a meeting of the Central Committee, Raúl Castro stated that the congress will ``set the nation's political and economic directives.''

The announcement was accompanied by other important decisions, such as the appointment of three new members of the Politiburo, the institution of a reduced commission and the creation of seven subordinate working commissions that include: Ideology and Culture, Economy, Food and Agriculture, Import Substitutes and Increasing Exports, Education, Science and Sports, Health and International Relations.

''Comrade Raúl alerted that in light of the current situation and perspective, we have to work together to continue forward with the same spirit of struggle and firmness of these nearly 50 years of revolution,'' stated Tuesday's edition of Granma, the Communist Party newspaper.

Castro ''indicated that the adopted agreements end the provisional period that began on July 31st of 2006'' when Fidel Castro temporarily ceded power to his younger brother.

Also announced was the reinstatement of veteran leader José Ramón Fernández, 85, to head the education sector. Additionally, a group of prisoners awaiting execution had their sentences commuted until a final decision is made.

The Communist Party Congress should have been held in 2002, but was continuously postponed without explanation.

''The Politburo considers it necessary to hold the VI Party Congress,'' Castro said.

According to Granma, the three figures elected to the Politburo are: the current Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Commander Ramiro Valdés, 76; the President of the Cuban Workers Union, Salvador Valdés Mesa, 56; and the Vice Minister of Defense, Gen. Alvaro López Miera, 64.

The Communist Party's Central Committee also decided to create an oversight committee ''with a reduced number of members'' to make ``more operative and functional the process of decision making that requires rapid treatment and will also allow for a collective evaluation.''

This oversight committee is to be headed up by Castro himself, the first Vice President of the State Council, José Ramón Machado Ventura, Commandander Juan Almeida Bosque, Minister of the Interior Abelardo Colomé Ibarra, Vice President of the State Council Carlos Lage Dávila, Defense Minister Julio Casas Regueiro and Central Committee member Esteban Lazo Hernández.

On Feb. 24, Fidel Castro stepped down as head-of-state and commander-in-chief, though no mention was made of what would become of his position as first secretary of the Communist Party, which ''according to the constitution'' is ``the superior directive force of the society and the State.''

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/cuba/story/514703.html
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