Cuba has fired the heads of two of the country’s most influential companies in a bid to bring the computing and telecommunications enterprises back under firm state control amid a national anti-corruption drive, industry sources said on Monday. Information Technology and Communications Minister Ramiro Valdes, 74, a former revolutionary hero, took over the sensitive sector that controls communist Cuba’s communications, computing, Internet and software development late last month. His was acting president Raul Castro’s sole ministerial appointment since he took over temporarily from his brother Fidel Castro on July 31 after the latter underwent intestinal surgery. The shake-up at the companies did not appear to be aimed at opening up the sector to foreign capital or to information and entertainment from outside the country, said the foreign and local sources, all of whom wished to remain anonymous. They said Valdes was unhappy with the independence shown by some company directors and their inability to rein in subordinates despite an ongoing drive to increase state control over the economy, improve efficiency and fight corruption. Cuban President Fidel Castro declared war on corruption a year ago, warning it could undo his 1959 revolution. Together with his brother Raul, Castro mobilized youth and Communist Party stalwarts to root out corrupt practices within the state bureaucracy, leading to widespread sackings in recent months. Valdes fired the president of Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba SA (Etecsa), Jose Antonio Fernandez, and the vice minister for information, Nelson Ferrer, for failing to control the fixed-line and mobile services monopoly, the sources said. Source: Reuters

Commentary

Ramiro Valdes ascension to head the Ministry of Communication has sparked speculation that Valdes is creating an intelligence apparatus within the ministry. His virtual control of communications, computing, Internet and software development, places him in a powerful position and in direct competition of Fidel Castro’s designated successor, Raul Castro. Valdes capacity to surveil the Cuban nomenclature and military hierarchy is making the ruling elite uneasy and distrustful.

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