Revolutionary Armed Forces
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The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a London-based independent think tank engaged in defense and security research, asks in its analysis of Cuba, how much of a threat does the Communist regime really pose to the world’s only superpower:
Raúl’s position as head of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias – FAR), who were greatly bolstered by the controlled economic reforms initiated in 1993, suggested that the new president would be in favour of expanding such open-market conditions to benefit the rest of the country. In reality, however, Raúl’s loyalty may lie less with the introduction of capitalism and more with the military itself. He was in favour of the 1993 reforms because they benefitted the army, not because he saw them as an intrinsically positive development.
This allegiance to the armed forces is not unexpected, but may well be giving the US some cause for alarm. The Cuban military currently manages around 60 percent of the economy, making it the strongest institution in the country. With its former head now in charge, the chances of a military state arising appear to be rather high. Indeed, the military exercises of 2004, shortly after Fidel’s public collapse, were the largest executed in nearly twenty years. It is reasonable to suppose that this was intended as a ‘show of strength’, not just for Cuba, but for Raúl himself (knowing, as he would, that he was the obvious candidate for power after his brother) and an indication of the route down which Cuba will be heading.
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(Image: Cuban military leadership. By La Nueva Cuba.)
Tags: Cuba, Cuban military, Economy, FAR, Fidel Castro, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias, Iran, Military, military state, Revolutionary Armed Forces, Royal United Services Institute
Spanish journalist Vicente Botín has written a new biography on Army General and Cuban President Raúl Castro entitled, Raúl Castro: la pulga que cabalgó al tigre (Raúl Castro: The Flea that Rode the Tiger), which will be published later this week.
The title of the book is derived from the Chinese proverb: “He who rides a tiger can never get off or the tiger will devour him.”
In his book preview editorial in La Razón, Botin writes, “In the shadow of his brother Fidel, the political life of Raúl Castro has been dark and hard; he has been the executive arm of the maximum leader’s desires.”
Interesting tidbits from the editorial:
- GAESA (Grupo de Administración Empresarial, S.A.), the Cuban Armed Forces’ holding company (managed by Raúl’s son-in-law Luis Alberto López Calleja), controls almost 70% of the country’s economy through transient businesses that generate almost 90% of exports, 60% of tourism revenues, around 25% of services revenues, 60% of currency revenues and more than 65% of all minor commerce in currency exchanges. The volume of annual profits surpasses $1B;
- Raúl’s daughter Mariela Castro has taken the family’s monies out of the country with ease of travel as she is accompanied by her Italian husband, Paolo;
- Raúl Castro visited Italy (after Fidel fell ill in 2006) to deposit millions of pesos, affirms exiled Cuban General José Quevedo;
- Leninist machismo enjoys good health in Cuba as the perks of Raulistas within the military working in GAESA companies. They are a privileged class with higher incomes and a much higher standard of living not only to the civilian population but to their own comrades in arms serving a strictly military function in locations far away from the resorts.
[H/T: The Cuban Triangle]
Tags: Cuba, Cuban armed forces, Fidel Castro, GAESA, Grupo de Administración Empresaria, José Quevedo, La Razón, Luis Alberto López Calleja, Mariela Castro, Military, MINFAR, Raul Castro, Raúl Castro: la pulga que cabalgó al tigre, Revolutionary Armed Forces, Vicente Botín
Civil Defense Chief Division General Ramón Pardo Guerra, who arrived in Moscow last Sunday, met with Russian Minister of Emergency Situation Serguei Shoigu and attended today the inauguration ceremony of the 2010 Intergrated Safety and Security Exhibition (ISSE) fair at the All-Russia Exhibition Center in Moscow, reports Cuban state media.
Fair exhibits include Fire Protection, Rescue Equipment, Security Technical Systems and Equipment, Transport Safety, Armament and Technical Equipment of Special Forces Units, Industrial Safety, Technical Facilities for Border and Customs Control, Equipment for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Safety, Information and Communication Security.
Of particular interest to the Cuban FAR (Revolutionary Armed Forces) and MININT (Ministry of Interior) would be the Armament and Technical Equipment of Special Forces Units exhibit for the potential use of new technologies to enforce stability operations in Havana that would provide security for the regime.
Organizers of the exhibition are a who’s who of Russian Federation security ministries: Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil defense, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters (EMERCOM), Ministry of the Interior of the Russian Federation, Boarder Service of the Russian Federation Security Service, Federal Service of Military-Tecnical Cooperation, Russian Defense Export State Corporation.
The delegation that came along with DG Pardo Guerra will visit The National Bureau of Situations of Crisis in Russia on Wednesday and on Thursday Cuban guests will tour the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil defense, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters (EMERCOM).
DG Pardo Guerra and his delegation will watch EMERCOM forces demonstration exercises in Noguinsk city, which is the closing program of the International Security Hall 2010 on Friday, May 21.
The goal of ISSE “is to provide effective cooperation between executive authorities and manufacturers of safety and security products in order to promote up-to-date technologies both to domestic and foreign markets of security systems and equipment.”
Tags: Academy of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, All-Russia Exhibition Center, EMERCOM, FAR, Intergrated Safety and Security Exhibition, ISSE, MININT, Ministry of Interior, National Bureau of Situations of Crisis, Ramon Pardo Guerra, Revolutionary Armed Forces, Russian Minister of Emergency Situation
Carlos Ominami. Image: The Clinic
Former Chilean leftist Senator Carlos Ominami (whose adoptive son is Marco Enríquez-Ominami, a Socialist who ran as an independent in the recent Chilean presidential election supported by Max Marambio) said the distancing of the Cuban regime with businessman Max Marambio (background here and here) is due to a “settling of scores” after the departure of Fidel Castro from power, in an interview he gave to The Clinic.
Ominami adds: ”I think what happened to Max (Marambio) falls within the same process that took as its latest victims Carlos Lage, Felipe Perez Roque and Gustavo Ramirez and (Rogelio) Acevedo, who is none other than the last living guerrilla with Che in the Sierra Maestra.”
He goes on further to say:
I think there are political reasons for the settling of scores. Fidel and Raul are not going to fight ever because they know that the minute they do, the Cuban revolution collapses. But they have allowed the existence of political power subsystems that will. And it is clear there are two lines: the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) and Ministry of Interior (MININT). In Cuba, both institutional leaderships have troops and those troops have rivalries. MININT Special Troops have rivalries with the FAR and finally what you’re experiencing is a history of that conflict.
[H/T: La Nueva Cuba]
Tags: Carlos Lage, Carlos Ominami, Cuban regime, FAR, Felipe Perez Roque, Fidel Castro, Gustavo Ramirez, Marco Enríquez-Ominami, Max Marambio, MININT, Ministry of Interior, Revolutionary Armed Forces, Rogelio Acevedo
Babalú Blog has posted a video report from Sean Hannity’s America on Fox News Channel which exposes the Cuban government’s alleged chemical and biological weapons program.
The source of the allegation is former chief of Medical Services of the Cuban Armed Forces, Colonel Roberto Ortega Morales, who served in that post from 1984 to 1994. Ortega first made his assertions in an interview with El Nuevo Herald and the Miami public affairs television program – A Mano Limpia, in 2007.
Also interviewed is Dr. Manuel Cereijo, a lecturer of Engineering at the University of Miami, who has written about Cuban telecommunications and Cuba’s national security threat to the United States.
Tags: biological weapons, chemical weapons, Cuba, Cuban armed forces, Cuban Government, Cuban military, FAR, Fox News Channel, Fuerzas Armadas Cubanas, Manuel Cereijo, Revolutionary Armed Forces, Roberto Ortega Morales, Sean Hannity
Division General Leonardo Andollo Valdés (Deputy Chief, General Staff) announced for the first time on Cuban state television that the Cuban military prepares for internal warfare against the people.
The War of All the People (Guerra de todo el pueblo) has been the fundamental underpinning of the Cuban armed forces’ military doctrine where the social masses are responsible for the national defense of the country against potential U.S. agression.
However, with Bastion 2009, that fundamental is evolving for the first time to include for the preparation of the armed forces’ internal war against the people.
La Jornada reports Division General Leonardo Andollo Valdés’ (Deputy Chief, General Staff) comments on the Mesa Redonda (Round Table) state television program surrounding the FAR and MININT’s military exercises beginning today.
Div. Gen. Andollo stated that the military maneuvers “begin in a situation of peacetime” and are in preparation for “the increase of enemy subversive activity aimed at causing social disorder and ungovernability in Cuba.”
Was this a slip of the tongue for Andollo or was he sanctioned by the military hierarchy to make it abundantly clear for internal/external consumption the government’s plan to crush, without hesitation, social instability affecting internal security?
The economic implosion (e.g. energy crisis, falling exports, limited capital inflow, eliminating food rationing booklet) the Cuban government faces caused by a stagnate command economy with meager traces of capitalism is propelling an inevitable social upheaval that the military and security forces will confront.
Bastion 2009 exercises are further evidence of such a fundamental change to the military’s mission to now quash social instability which has been publicly announced by a high-ranking general of the Cuban military’s high command.
Tags: Bastion 2009, Cuban military, FAR, internal warfare, Leonardo Andollo Valdes, Military, MINFAR, MININT, Revolutionary Armed Forces, social disorder in Cuba, ungovernability in Cuba
The Cuban Defense Ministry has announced through state media that Bastion 2009 military exercises will take place throughout the country for three days at the end of the month: November 26 – November 28. National Defense Day will be held on November 29.
The program will include maneuvers and different types of tactical exercises with the participation of units from the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionaria (Revolutionary Armed Forces), Interior Ministry and other components of the territorial defensive system, which include troops movement and military equipment with air flights, and explosions where required.
The last large-scale military exercise was held in 2006.
Tags: Bastion 2009, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionaria, Interior Ministry, National Defense Day, Revolutionary Armed Forces
Aging tanks roll through Revolution Square during the grand parade in Havana, Cuba, Dec., 2006. Image: People's Daily
Stratfor assesses Russian assistance in modernizing Cuba’s aging military equipment and its presence in the Western hemisphere.
Tags: Cuban military, FAR, Lourdes, Military, Moscow, Raul Castro, Revolutionary Armed Forces, Western Hemisphere
The Rand Corporation has published a monograph titled: Domestic Trends in the United States, China, and Iran: Implications for U.S. Navy Strategic Planning, which “investigates current and projected domestic developments in the United States, China, and Iran in the areas of demographics, economics, energy consumption, the environment, and education in order to help the Navy understand how critical near-, mid, and far-term trends in these countries might influence U.S. security decisions in general.”
A section of the monograph looks at future trends and possibilities in the Caribbean and focuses on Cuba with a possible event of semi-chaos/civil war and US intervention:
The biggest near-term variable in the Caribbean is the future of Cuba after Fidel Castro passes from the scene. The Cuban economy has been very weak for decades, and Castro
Tags: civil war in Cuba, Cuban military, Economy, Fidel Castro, Latin America, MINFAR, RAND, Raul Castro, Revolutionary Armed Forces, semi-chaos in Cuba, United States, US intervention in Cuba, Western Hemisphere
The gerontocracy that is the general officers corps.
Army General Raul Castro has now completed his change in the principal commands of Cuba’s three armies: Western, Central and Eastern.
The first change took place on May 24, 2008, when Central Army Chief, ACG Joaqu
Tags: army, Cuban Government, Cuban military, Fidel Castro, Military, MINFAR, Raul Castro, Revolutionary Armed Forces, Western Army
Cuban state media reports there has been a change of command for the Eastern Army. Army Corps General Ramon Espinosa Martin (left) has been promoted to Vice-Minister of Defense. Espinosa Martin has held command of the Eastern Army for the last 27 years and was picked by Fidel Castro for the post. Division General Onelio Aguilera Berm
Tags: Cuban military, Eastern Army, MINFAR, Revolutionary Armed Forces
The Economist takes a look at the last 50 years of the Cuban revolution:
Half a century on, the euphoria is long gone. Everyday life in Cuba is a dreary affair of queues and shortages, even if nobody starves and violent crime is rare. It is the only country in the Americas whose government denies its citizens freedom of expression and assembly. Cuba
Tags: Cuba, Cuban Communist Party, Cuban Government, Fidel Castro, Havana, Latin America, Raul Castro, Revolutionary Armed Forces, Western Hemisphere
Generals Cintra Frias (r) and Morales Abad (l) sign the official act authorizing the change of command. (Photo: Granma)
Cuban media reports Army Corps General Leopoldo “Polo” Cintra Fr
Tags: General Raul Castro, General Staff, Revolutionary Armed Forces, Western Army
Colonel Alex Crowther (Research Professor of National Security Studies in the Strategic Studies Institue of the US Army War College) has penned an editorial on Cuba, Raul and the military. He is also the author of Security Requirements for Post-Transition Cuba.
As Louis XV allegedly said, “Apres moi, le deluge.” Certainly people have thought that Cuba after Fidel would be the same. How would a Cuban state that revolves around him survive his departure? How would a government where no decision is too small for his attention function? How would the generations who have known no one other than the “Maximo Lider” handle the change? Luckily for the Cuban government, the answer is
Tags: Carlos Lage, Council of Ministers, Council of State, Cuban Communist Party, FAR, Fidel Castro, MINFAR, MININT, Ministry of the Interior, National Assembly, Raul Castro, Revolutionary Armed Forces
A political and military ceremony of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias-FAR), situated east of the capital of Havana, was held to commence preparations for the defensive year of the Eastern Army (Ej
Tags: Alvaro Lopez Miera, Basti, Cuban military, Ej, FAR, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias, Leopoldo Cintra Fr, Revolutionary Armed Forces, Western Army
The cohesion of the different forces and Cuban means was used for the defense of a zone besieged by a supposed enemy, with the use of tanks, infantry, artillery and aviation.
The success of the territorial device against several attempts of invasion was praised by the President of the Provincial Defense Council of Havana Ivan Ordaz, at the end of the military exercise Moncada 2007.
In statements to media, he affirmed the capacity and preparation of FAR (Revolutionary Armed Forces), MTT (Territorial Troops Military men) and the peoples was demonstrated.
He added that the territory worked strongly during the exercise, which concluded Nov 23 with a positive balance in the preparation for the defense of all troops.
The practices were developed from Monday 19 and the brigades of production and defense next to MTT and control organizations at all the levels had an outstanding participation, he affirmed.
Heads and officials described as successful the five days of Moncada 2007, including central and western provinces, with actions in all the structures of the armed and not armed component.
This training exercise is a way to maintain the military invulnerability of Cuba.
Source: Prensa Latina
Tags: FAR, Moncada 2007, MTT, Revolutionary Armed Forces
Cuban and North Korean militaries’ development of ties
21 April 2010 at 1037 in Armed Forces, Commentary, DPRK, Diplomacy, Generals, Government, International Relations, Military by Armando F. Mastrapa 3d
Army Corps General Álvaro López Miera (Vice-Minister and Chief of the General Staff of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba) continues his Asia tour; via Korean Central News Agency of DPRK:
The General Staff of the Korean People’s Army hosted a reception in honor of the visiting delegation of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces on Tuesday.
Present there on invitation were members of the delegation led by Army Corps General Álvaro López Miera, vice-minister and chief of the General Staff of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba, and Ambassador Jose Manuel Galego Montano and Military Attache Leonardo Perez Mesa of the Cuban embassy here.
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Tags: Democratic People's Republic of Korea, DPRK, FAR, General Álvaro López Miera, Jose Manuel Galego Montano, Korean People's Army, KPA, Leonardo Perez Mesa, Pak Jae Gyong, Revolutionary Armed Forces, Ri Yong Ho, Rodong Sinmun