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The Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) carried out a large-scale reshuffling of leadership in the province of Guantánamo, which resulted in the covert ousting of officials at both provincial and municipal levels, according to the newspaper Venceremos.
The full session of the Provincial Committee, chaired by Yoel Pérez García, the first secretary of the PCC in the province since November 2023, approved the changes under the bureaucratic formula of "liberation through renewal" and "promotion," without providing any explanation regarding the actual reasons for the replacements.
At the provincial level
Zenia Lores Méndez was "released" from her post as a professional member of the Executive Bureau to focus on political-ideological activities.
Instead, the assembly agreed to transfer Liset Pérez Rosario, who has been handling social matters at the Provincial Bureau and has experience as the first secretary in two municipalities.
Additionally, Yusdania Lafirmé Félix was promoted to the position of professional member of the Executive Bureau to oversee social activities, after 14 years as a political cadre with experience ranging from Maisí to First Secretary in Niceto Pérez.
Niceto Pérez Municipality
The departure of Lafirmé Félix to the provincial level made way for the promotion of Daniurki Félix Rodríguez as the first municipal secretary, described by the newspaper Venceremos as "a promising figure, she is young," with previous experience in El Salvador and the Provincial Committee.
San Antonio del Sur Municipality
Alexander Olivares Trimiño is no longer the first secretary of the Municipal Committee and has been replaced by Andriubal Cantillo Mesón, a 45-year-old agronomist who has been a member of the PCC since June 2009.
Trimiño had been promoted to the position in January 2025, so he didn't last even a year and a half, a detail that the official publication overlooks.
On his part, Cantillo Mesón moved through the Union of Young Communists until he became the first secretary of that organization in Maisí, and then he served as an official in the agricultural and food sphere of the Provincial Committee.
Manuel Tames Municipality
Rafael Velásquez Bongo was removed as the first municipal secretary and replaced by Idalberto Tirado Speck, also an agricultural engineer, with experience as a political coordinator and a member of the Bureau in the economic-productive and agri-food sphere.
The official press described the changes as part of "a process of renewal and strengthening of the political leadership in the province," without specifying what failed under the management of the outgoing leaders.
The pattern of covert dismissals under bureaucratic language is increasingly repeated in Cuba. In 2025 and so far in 2026, the regime has carried out similar replacements in Camagüey, Mayabeque, Las Tunas, and Cienfuegos, without the state media explaining the real reasons in any of the cases.
Changes are taking place in a province facing a severe crisis: Guantánamo has lost more than 40,000 inhabitants since 2019, with a current population of just 465,429 people, plagued by massive emigration, blackouts, shortages, and the deterioration of basic services, direct consequences of 67 years of communist dictatorship.
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