Raúl Castro and hardline deputy remain at helm of Cuba’s Communist Party

Raúl Castro and hardline deputy remain at helm of Cuba's Communist Party

Raúl Castro reelected to five-year term as first secretary of the
party's Political Bureau
He has said he will step down as president of the Council of State in 2018
Revolutionary stalwart José Ramón Machado Ventura elected as second
secretary
BY MIMI WHITEFIELD
mwhitefield@miamiherald.com

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Cuban leader Raúl Castro and José Ramón Machado Ventura, revolutionaries
who have been members of the Political Bureau of Cuba's Communist Party
for more than 50 years, were reelected Tuesday to the party's two most
powerful posts, indicating the Old Guard wants a place as Cuba
transitions to younger leaders.

Nearly 1,000 delegates to the VII Congress of the Communist Party of
Cuba cast ballots for Central Committee members Monday. As their first
act, they elected members of the Political Bureau, including its first
and second secretaries, on Tuesday, the closing session of the four-day
congress.

Castro, 84, who has said he plans to retire from his posts as president
of the Council of State and Council of Ministers in 2018, will finish
his five-year term as the party's first secretary in 2021.

During a report he gave Saturday at the opening of the VII Congress,
Castro hinted that he would be around to pass the torch to a younger
generation of party leaders. "The next five years, for obvious reasons,
will be defining," he said. He indicated that the transition won't be a
hurried process and change won't be made for the sake of change.

Castro said delegates had decided to maintain a reduced number of
members of Cuba's "historic generation," despite their advanced age,
because of the authority they maintain before the Cuban people due to
their long revolutionary service.

"I truly believe in young people, but we still need as a guide Raúl and
Machadito (Machado Ventura)," wrote Alexis Fernández Martínez in
comments to a story about the congress posted on the Cubadebate website.

Castro has proposed age limits for entry into the Political Bureau and
the party's Central Committee. But on Tuesday he said that the new rules
and the posts to which an age limit of 70 would be applied would be
subject to more debate.

Even though Fidel Castro, 89, was elected a congress delegate, he did
not attend until the closing day, according to official Cuban media.

In what appeared to be a farewell speech, he said: "The time will come
for all of us, but the ideas of the Cuban Communists will remain as
proof on this planet that if they are worked at with fervor and dignity,
they can produce the material and cultural goods that human beings need,
and we need to fight without truce to obtain them."

His presence served as a powerful symbol of Cuba's Old Guard and shouts
of Fidel! Fidel! rang out as he came into Havana's Convention Palace
where the congress was held. Castro ceded power to his younger brother
in 2006 when he became ill and Raúl was officially elected president of
the Council of State in 2008.

When delegates voted on Central Committee members, Raúl Castro cast not
only his ballot but that of his brother, saying as he deposited the
first vote, "I'm going to vote for the chief first."

There had been speculation that Machado Ventura, 85, who served as first
vice president of the Council of State from 2008 to 2013, might be
replaced as second secretary by a younger member of the Politburo but
the veteran of the guerrilla war in the Sierra Maestra and a hardliner
on some of the economic reform Cuba is undertaking retained his position.

Miguel Díaz-Canel, who turns 56 Wednesday and as first vice president of
the Council of State and Council of Ministers is Castro's heir apparent,
retained his Politburo seat. Had he replaced Machado Ventura as second
secretary, as some analysts had speculated before the congress, it would
have provided a clear signal about succession.

Díaz-Canel was one of 12 Political Bureau members who were reelected.

But there was some generational renewal and new blood added to the
Politburo. Five new members, including three women, Teresa Amarelle,
secretary general of the Cuban Federation of Women; Mirian Nicado
García, rector of the University of Informatics Sciences, and Marta
Ayala Ávila., assistant director of the Center of Genetic Engineering
and Biotechnology, were elected.

The other new members are Public Health Minister Roberto Morales Ojeda
and Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, secretary of the Workers Central
Union of Cuba.

"Besides a few new women, these people just don't want to change. The
Old Guard has made it clear they don't want to lose control," said Andy
Gomez, a Cuba analyst and a retired vice provost at the University of
Miami. "It seems the Old Guard has won."

Two members of the Politburo, Abelardo Colome Ibarra, who served as
Interior Minister until his October 2015 retirement for health reasons,
and Adel Yzquierdo Rodríguez, transport minister, were replaced.

The new body has 17 members and there are now four women. Mercedes López
Acea, who became a member of the Politburo in 2011 and is the first
secretary of Havana's party committee, was reelected.

The new Central Committee has 142 members, according to a list published
by Cubadebate, an official Cuban website.

There had been speculation in Miami that the children of Raúl Castro
might land on the Central Committee. But neither his daughter Mariela
Castro Espín, director of the National Center for Sex Education, nor his
son, Col. Alejandro Castro Espín, were promoted to higher party posts.

NEW POLITICAL BUREAU OF CUBA'S COMMUNIST PARTY
Raúl Castro, first secretary

José Ramón Machado Ventura, second secretary

Reelected:

Raúl Castro

José Ramón Machado Ventura

Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez

Esteban Lazo Hernández

Ramiro Valdés Menéndez

Salvador Valdés Mesa

Leopoldo Cintra Frías

Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla

Marino Murillo Jorge

Mercedes López Acea

Alvaro López Miera

Ramón Espinosa Martín

New members:

Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento, secretary of the Workers Central Union of
Cuba

Roberto Morales Ojeda, public health minister

Miriam Nicado García, rector of the University of Informatic Sciences

Teresa Amarelle Boué, secretary general of the Federation of Cuban Women

Marta Ayala Ávila, assistant director of the Center of Genetic
Engineering and Biotechnology

Source: Raúl Castro and hardline deputy remain at helm of Cuba's
Communist Party | Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article72617322.html