party Younger zealots the face of post-Fidel Cuba
Posted on Thu, Jul. 06, 2006 CUBA Younger party zealots the face of post-Fidel Cuba Cuba's Communist Party appeared to be laying the groundwork for a future without Fidel Castro. BY FRANCES ROBLES [e-mail] A shake-up unseen in more than 10 years is under way in the Cuban Communist Party, in what experts say is a sign that Havana is anxious to lay the foundation for a strong, communist post-Castro Cuba. The party leadership announced Tuesday that it had resurrected its secretariat, a policy-implementing group that was abolished 15 years ago, officially for financial reasons. Tapped for the new board: longtime party stalwarts who represent a younger generation of Fidel Castro's revolution. The move underscores the Cuban government's desire to strengthen ruling institutions for a future when a government currently so dependent on the 79-year-old Castro is no longer possible. WAKE-UP CALL Several of the new secretariat members were provincial leaders who were replaced in May, at that time fueling speculation of a purge. But experts say that was, in fact, the preparation of a promotion of new leaders. ''They are reorganizing,'' said Alcibiades Hidalgo, a former Cuban diplomat and chief of staff to Defense Minister Ral Castro. ``This is not a purge. They are preparing a party that has been asleep for 15 years.'' The moves came during a party meeting held Saturday, but they were not announced until Tuesday. The party's newspaper, Granma, said Castro presided over the meeting and will head the secretariat along with his brother, Ral. One of the 10 other new members is Jos R. Machado Ventura, 75, right-hand man to Ral Castro. The others include three women: Mara del Carmen Concepcin Gonzlez, party first secretary in Pinar del Ro province; Mercedes Lpez Acea, first secretary in Cienfuegos; and Lina Pedraza ex-minister Rodrguez, of audits and oversight. Cuban government leaders have cautioned in recent months that the revolution has failed to capture the nation's youth. The new personnel changes appear aimed at grooming younger officials, with even Fidel Castro himself recently noting that his designated successor, Ral, just turned 75. NOT MAVERICKS
But while many of the new members are in their 50s and considerably younger than the Castro brothers, experts noted that they also are longtime party favorites. ''They are not the youngest generation,'' Hidalgo said. ``They have a lot of experience and are not at all inclined to changes.'' Domingo Amuchastegui, a former Cuban intelligence officer who defected in 1994, said the new committee members represent the ''middle generation'' -- people born into the revolution and tapped for leadership positions since their youth. ''These are people with a definite mind-set,'' he said. ``The idea is to strengthen the party and offer a message of institutionalism, that Cuba is not going to replace one caudillo for another.'' The party also announced several new members of its centr...