Former officers: Castro leadership fears retirees from FAR and MININT

The Castro leadership fears retirees from the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) and the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) who - like the majority of Cubans - were impoverished and live helplessly, despite the fact that they dedicated their best years to the defense of Cuba. assured the founding pentarchy of the Movement of Military Conscientious Objectors (MOC), in a statement released this Friday.

The Castro regime fears retired military personnel, due to "our combat record and moral influence among active officers; and it is time to raise our voice in defense of the people and our former comrades in arms," the statement stressed.

"While the Cuban people and ex-military personnel suffer all kinds of deprivation, the Castros, their family and the ruling leadership live like millionaires.", contrasted the pentarchy.

A majority of retired soldiers from the FAR and the MININT live in conditions of poverty, forced to take on jobs inappropriate for their age and health; a situation that contrasts with the opulence of the Castro-Espín family and the ruling leadership, described the statement from former Cuban officers, led by Brigadier General (r)Rafael del Pino Díaz.

"Just as happens to the vast majority of Cubans, these ex-combatants, many of them war veterans, who exposed their lives in unnecessary war confrontations, are now also unprotected and abandoned to their fate by the Castro regime," the MOC remarked.

Their pensions have lost purchasing power due to the notable inflation caused by the dollarization of the economy and - like many other Cubans - they live overcrowded with other family members; despite the fact that they dedicated the best years of their lives to the defense of Cuba, the statement stated.

Many former soldiers are not even properly cared for by the Association of Combatants of the Cuban Revolution (ACRC), despite the fact that they dedicated the best years of their lives to the armed forces and security forces, including fire services, border guards and police; they added.

The priority of the ACRC is to maintain "strict control over retired military personnel, including former high-ranking officers, who sacrificed the well-being of their family and themselves," concluded the movement of Cuban Military Objectors (MOC), in his signed statement - in addition to the generalof the Pine- by the former Lieutenant of the MININT, Ángel Madrazo Giro, and the lieutenant colonels of the FAR,Mario Riva Morales, Alfredo Lima Perez andMáximo Ruiz Matoses, who acts as spokesperson for the pentarchy.

This Friday's statement follows the one recently issued by theMOC warning that the "dismissal" of FAR Minister Leopoldo Cintras Frías and other changes in the hierarchy are intended to prevent a military rebellion in Cuba, and reiterated their call to their comrades in arms not to shoot at the people.

In February,Carmen J. Alma, widow of a Rebel Army combatant, denounced that she does not receive enough support from the government and complained about the terrible conditions of her home..

In October, Osvaldo Núñez Angulo, crippled from the war in Angola, denounced that he lives with a "miserable" pension, filling his house in Ciego de Ávila with posters with phrases like "Who lives on 210 pesos. Abusers!", in reference to his pension, the only support for him and his wife.