Laura Beatriz García Corcho, 29 years old, was promoted to first secretary of the Provincial Committee of the Young Communists' Union (UJC) in Villa Clara, replacing Hermes Germán Aguilera Pérez, during an Extraordinary Plenary held on September 3.
Aguilera, 34 years old, had held the position since 2023 and had been a professional member of the organization for more than six years.
Meivys Estévez Echeverría, first secretary of the National Committee of the UJC, described the change as "a natural and happy movement" and acknowledged that the organization experienced "very tough moments" during the tenure of her predecessor, according to a report from the official newspaper Vanguardia.
García, who also holds a degree in Marxism and History, has been serving as a member of the Provincial Bureau to address the political-ideological sphere.
Their promotion maintains the pattern of rotation of leaders within the communist youth structure, through the transfer of outgoing leaders to professional work within the Party and the elevation of other officials to territorial leadership positions.
This same mechanism was applied in June in Havana, when the UJC replaced Raúl Palmero as provincial leader, and in April 2024 at the national level, when Estévez herself was elected as leader of the youth organization.
The new First Secretary will have among her main tasks the strengthening of the Community Youth Network, a structure that the ruling party presents as a means to engage with young people in the neighborhoods.
Estévez acknowledged that "there are many tasks and a lot of effort that need to be put in" to reach those who need it most.
The organization currently has a presence in 1,263 of the 1,410 popular councils in the country, but the leader Miguel Díaz-Canel acknowledged in August that youth participation levels remain insufficient.
The problem is greater when observing the evolution of the membership itself. The UJC decreased from 609,000 members in 2007 to 415,000 in 2024, a reduction of about 194,000 members during that period, in a context characterized by emigration and ideological disillusionment, according to analysts.
The session was also presided over by Susely Morfa González, the first secretary of the Communist Party in Villa Clara and a member of the Central Committee, who led the UJC at the national level since 2016 before moving to the party apparatus.
Morfa called for a youth "full of challenges" and demanded "less talk and more transformative action."
The call comes after protests and pot-banging demonstrations recorded in Villa Clara during June, while the ruling party seeks to strengthen its political work structures with the new generations.
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