Raul Castro

New Cuban political elite

December 4, 2011

Eusebio Mujal-León, professor and former chair of the Department of Government at Georgetown University and the director of the Cuba XXI Project, has written an excellent article (published in the Journal of International Affairs’ Fall/Winter ’11 issue on the authoritarian state) analyzing the new Cuban political elite and exploring how power is distributed between the country’s military [...]

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Preconditions for political violence in Cuba

November 17, 2011

Three months ago, the Canadian government’s Economic & Political Intelligence Centre at Export Development Canada—EDC (Canada’s export credit agency, which helps Canadian exporters and investors expand their international business) issued its political outlook on Cuba: Raúl Castro’s pragmatism has resulted in investment and cooperation agreements with a variety of countries. Companies from several countries are also building [...]

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Risky business

November 16, 2011

The Economist weighs in on the risk of foreign businesses operating in Cuba:  Standing beside Belarusian tractors and Chinese machine parts at Havana’s annual trade fair last month, Rodrigo Malmierca, Cuba’s foreign trade minister, said the presence of 3,000 executives from over 60 countries proved the appeal of joint commercial ventures with the Cuban government. [...]

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New defense minister named (Updated)

November 8, 2011

Cuban state media announced that the Council of State has named Army General Raúl Castro’s loyal acolyte Army Corps General Leopoldo ‘Polo’ Cintra Frías (70) as the country’s new defense minster. ACG Cintra was named in 2008 deputy defense minster (vice-ministro primero) and was the commander of the all important Western Army (1986-2008) that protects the capital, Havana. Army Corps General Alvaro [...]

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Winds of change?

November 2, 2011

Daniel Calingaert, Vice President for Policy and External Relations at Freedom House, discusses FH’s recent survey conducted in Cuba in a blog post at Freedom at Issue: The government shows no intention of opening up the political system. At the Communist Party congress in April, when Castro welcomed a “new generation” of leaders, they were led by revolution-era [...]

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Army general meets with high-ranking Chinese mil official

October 29, 2011

Cuban Army General Raul Castro met with Chinese General Guo Boxiong, vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission on Thursday pledging “to work together to further push forward their bilateral ties and promote friendly cooperation between the two militaries.” Also present at the meeting were members of the Chinese military delegation and high-ranking officials of [...]

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