Raul Castro Re-Elected First Secretary Of The Communist Party Of Cuba

Raul Castro Re-Elected First Secretary Of The Communist Party Of Cuba /
14ymedio

EFE (14ymedio), Havana, 19 April 2016 – The Communist Party of Cuba
(PCC) Tuesday re-elected the country's president, Raul Castro, as first
secretary of the organization, a position he has occupied since 2011,
when he replaced his brother Fidel Castro.

The newly elected PCC Central Committee also ratified Jose Ramon Machado
Ventura as deputy party secretary, a position he also held since the
previous Congress of the organization, held five years ago.

After three days of meetings, the Seventh Party Congress is closing
today, a day when the new composition of the bodies of the party and the
Central Committee, the Political Bureau and the Secretariat was announced.

The Politburo now consists of 17 members, with five new members
including the sevretary general of the official union, the Cuba Workers
Center (CTC), Ulises Guilarte; Health Minister Roberto Morales; and the
general secretary of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC), Teresa Amarelle.

Completing the list are two women from academia, the rector of the
University of Information Sciences (UCI), Miriam Nicado; and the
directive of the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in
Cuba (CIGB), Marta Ayala.

In the new composition of the Politburo, no longer members are General
of the Armed Forces Abelardo Colome Ibarra, who resigned as Minister of
the Interior last October for health reasons; and Adel Yzquierdo,
Minister of Transport since September.

Remaining in the Politburo are the first and second secretaries of the
PCC, Raul Castro and Machado Ventura; first Deputy Prime Minister,
Miguel Diaz-Canel; Economy Minister Marino Murillo; Foreign Minister
Bruno Rodriguez; Vice President of the Councils of State and Ministers,
Ramiro Valdes; and deputy chairman of the State Council, Salvador Valdes
Mesa.

Also continuing as members are the President of the National Assembly,
Esteban Lazo; Minister of the Armed Forces (FAR), Leopoldo Cintra Frias;
the first deputy minister of the FAR, Alvaro Lopez Miera; the deputy
minister of the FAR, Ramon Espinosa; and the first secretary of the PCC
in Havana, Mercedes Lopez.

The new Central Committee, the highest governing body of the Party
between congresses, is composed of 142 members, with an average age of
54, lower than the average age of the previous committee elected in
2011, which was made up of 116 members.

In the new committee the representation of women reached 44%, higher
than previously, and the percentage of blacks and mixed-race also
increased, now accounting for 36%.

The Secretariat of the PCC remains almost unchanged ind its composition
and consists of, in addition to Raul Castro and Machado Ventura,
Abelardo Alvarez, Jose Ramon Balaguer, Olga Lidia Tapia, Jorge Cuevas
and Omar Ruiz. The only novelty is the departure of Victor Gaute, chief
of the civilian mission of collaboration in Venezuela.

Source: Raul Castro Re-Elected First Secretary Of The Communist Party Of
Cuba / 14ymedio – Translating Cuba -
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