Raúl Castro's grandson was not alone in the front row of the high-level meeting of the Communist Party of Cuba held this Thursday at the Central Committee.
Alongside Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, nicknamed "The Crab", sat Brigadier General José Amado Ricardo Guerra, Secretary of the Council of Ministers and one of the most loyal men to the dictator, described by independent media as "the eyes and ears of Raúl Castro in the Government."
The images from the session, which included the Political Bureau, the Secretariat of the Central Committee, and the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers, were broadcast this morning by Cuban state television.
The meeting chaired by Miguel Díaz-Canel focused on the current state of relations with the United States and the secret dialogues that the regime has held with Washington.
Ricardo Guerra, known in power circles as "Amadito," has spent decades in direct service to Raúl Castro.
Who is "Amadito"?
Born in Gibara, Holguín, he joined the Revolutionary Armed Forces in 1969 and gradually rose through the ranks to become Chief of the Minister of the FAR's Secretariat in July 2006, when Fidel Castro fell seriously ill and his brother took effective control of the country.
In March 2009, Raúl Castro appointed him Executive Secretary of the Council of Ministers, to replace Carlos Lage Dávila, who had held the position since 1986.
Since then, Amadito has remained in that key position, even when Díaz-Canel formally took office as president in 2018.
"Amadito is a staunch supporter of Raúl Castro who manages the work agenda of the State Council and the Council of Ministers," noted the journalist and historian Álvaro Alba.
The project Represores Cubanos, an initiative of the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba, accuses him of being a white-collar oppressor and identifies him as one of the founders of the military-business conglomerate GAESA, which controls between 70% and 90% of Cuban retail trade.
Ricardo Guerra contributed since 1988, as an assistant to then Deputy Minister of the FAR Julio Casas Regueiro, to the emergence of that economic octopus that operates without oversight and at will.
Its appearance is not coincidental
The simultaneous presence of El Cangrejo and Amadito in the same front row is not a coincidence.
Both represent the mechanisms through which Raúl Castro, at 94 years old, maintains actual control of power without the need to formally hold the presidency.
The Crab, lieutenant colonel of MININT and head of personal security for his grandfather, has been identified by the Miami Herald and Axios as the main Cuban interlocutor in secret conversations with the Trump administration.
Díaz-Canel himself admitted this morning that these dialogues are "directed by the Army General [Raúl Castro]," confirming that the designated president is not the one making the important decisions.
Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart had confirmed the day before discussions with multiple individuals close to Raúl Castro at the highest level, while President Trump announced on March 7 that "Marco Rubio is talking to Cuba right now."
The meeting of the Central Committee, with El Cangrejo and Amadito in the front row, presents an accurate image of who these individuals are.
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