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The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment (MINCEX) in Cuba, Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, made a strategic move in his leadership team supported by "the process of renewing positions within the government structures."
In 2023, this state agency was one of the entities that acknowledged poor performance. It begins the new year by making key moves. Cubadebate reported the dismissal of deputy ministers and the appointment of new leaders this week.
Among the dismissed officials are well-known figures, such as the First Deputy Minister Ana Teresita González Fraga, replaced by Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, who was the director of business evaluation for the Mariel Special Development Zone.
Another official who has left his position is Deputy Minister Roberto López Hernández. He has been succeeded by Carlos Luis Jorge Méndez, who was the general director of Foreign Investment at MINCEX.
The regime stated that the dismissed deputy ministers performed "excellent work," but will take on other roles.
Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, a veteran intelligence officer, is currently 87 years old. He was appointed Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment in 2023, when he took over from Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz, who had been at the helm of that portfolio for over 14 years.
This Thursday, the regime announced another personnel shift in a key province. The First Secretary of the Communist Party (PCC) in Santiago de Cuba, José Ramón Monteagudo Ruiz, who had been in his position for less than three years, was replaced by the governor Beatriz Johnson Urrutia.
Miguel Díaz-Canel attended the dismissal event, where it was announced that Monteagudo Ruiz would return to the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the PCC, an organization that is experiencing a decline in its membership and seeks to incorporate loyal members.
Since the beginning of 2024, Díaz-Canel has been preparing strategic moves within the leadership ranks. A few weeks ago, he approved the code of ethics that requires leaders to be loyal "to the PCC, to the Revolution, to the thought of José Martí and Fidel Castro Ruz, as well as to unconditionally defend the interests of the people, the State, and the Government."
The new ethical code and the reshuffling of officials arrive at a time of crisis in Cuba. The regime faces harsh criticism, even from within the ranks of the PCC, for the poor economic management by Díaz-Canel's team.
Thousands of Cuban families live on the edge of extreme poverty while political leaders appear increasingly overweight and evoke the population's disdain.
Díaz-Canel assures that he wants changes at the grassroots level, but he does not address, nor can he address, the positions of the highest echelons. The retention of Cabrisas as head of MINCEX is the strongest evidence of this.
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