Cubaland is a Military State
as if there were any doubt...
Fidel Castro organized the 26 of July Movement (named after his disastrous attack on Cuba's second largest military garrison on that date in 1953) along the lines of an army. he was its absolute leader. they had absolute discipline.
with roughly 80 of his "soldiers," Fidel landed in Cuba in late 1956 and became a guerrilla army, eventually winning a short war against the forces of the previous military dictator, General Batista.
Fidel, at the head of his Rebel Army (the military wing of the 26 of July Movement), arrived in Havana in early January, 1959, and, in one fell swoop, one dictator in a khaki uniform was replaced by another dictator in an olive-green uniform.
the Rebel Army was reformed as the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias (the Revolutionary Armed Forces) (FAR in Spanish), and Fidel was officially designated as the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, a title he still holds. His brother, Raul, as highest-ranked general in the Army (second only to Fidel) and Minister of the Armed Forces, oversees the army's day to day operations, including its lucrative investments in the tourist industry.
how important is the army in Cuba? it's the power base of the Castro brothers. it will be the power base of whoever follows in their wake.
in a masterful stroke, Fidel has NEVER (never) used the army against the people. instead, he employs the police as well as the secret police (run by the Ministry of the Interior) and ad hoc gangs of thugs under the state's control to enforce the rules when such becomes necessary. thus, the people of Cuba have never perceived the army as their enemy -- as it most surely is, allowing as it does the dictatorship to survive without fear of a coup.
from Cuban Army Called Key in any Post-Castro Scenario
By Anthony Boadle
"Without doubt, the FAR is the most efficient, best-trained and most cohesive institution in Cuba," a European diplomat said. "Take MINFAR (Armed Forces Ministry) out of the equation and you don't have a state."
The armed forces were the first institution to introduce capitalist business practices in Cuba when fuel was so scarce in the 1990s that MiG fighters had to be hauled into parking slots by horses. Now MINFAR's business operations generate billions of dollars in annual revenues.
The FAR controls industries, technology and computing firms, vast farms and citrus plantations, beach resort hotels, car rentals, an airline and a fleet of buses. It also owns one of the largest retail chains in the country.
Generals runs Cuba's sugar industry, administer the ports and direct the lucrative cigar industry.
Its core of trained managers may also prove useful to Raul Castro if he decides to open up Cuba's economy along Chinese lines, as some analysts expect.
"He is probably the only person in Cuba capable of convincing the hard-liners to open up the economy," the European diplomat said.
The FAR is also popular, unlike most Latin American militaries. It is an article of faith that the army cannot fire on the people, Klepak said.
"Tiananmen Square is the greatest nightmare the armed forces have. When Cuban military officers saw Chinese armor moving against civilians they said 'No way'," he said.
The other nightmare for Cuba's leadership is that East European armies were "not willing to risk a fingernail" in the defense of communism when the Soviet Union fell apart, he said. The Cuban authorities expect otherwise from the FAR.
See Full Story
Fidel Castro organized the 26 of July Movement (named after his disastrous attack on Cuba's second largest military garrison on that date in 1953) along the lines of an army. he was its absolute leader. they had absolute discipline.
with roughly 80 of his "soldiers," Fidel landed in Cuba in late 1956 and became a guerrilla army, eventually winning a short war against the forces of the previous military dictator, General Batista.
Fidel, at the head of his Rebel Army (the military wing of the 26 of July Movement), arrived in Havana in early January, 1959, and, in one fell swoop, one dictator in a khaki uniform was replaced by another dictator in an olive-green uniform.
the Rebel Army was reformed as the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias (the Revolutionary Armed Forces) (FAR in Spanish), and Fidel was officially designated as the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, a title he still holds. His brother, Raul, as highest-ranked general in the Army (second only to Fidel) and Minister of the Armed Forces, oversees the army's day to day operations, including its lucrative investments in the tourist industry.
how important is the army in Cuba? it's the power base of the Castro brothers. it will be the power base of whoever follows in their wake.
in a masterful stroke, Fidel has NEVER (never) used the army against the people. instead, he employs the police as well as the secret police (run by the Ministry of the Interior) and ad hoc gangs of thugs under the state's control to enforce the rules when such becomes necessary. thus, the people of Cuba have never perceived the army as their enemy -- as it most surely is, allowing as it does the dictatorship to survive without fear of a coup.
from Cuban Army Called Key in any Post-Castro Scenario
By Anthony Boadle
"Without doubt, the FAR is the most efficient, best-trained and most cohesive institution in Cuba," a European diplomat said. "Take MINFAR (Armed Forces Ministry) out of the equation and you don't have a state."
The armed forces were the first institution to introduce capitalist business practices in Cuba when fuel was so scarce in the 1990s that MiG fighters had to be hauled into parking slots by horses. Now MINFAR's business operations generate billions of dollars in annual revenues.
The FAR controls industries, technology and computing firms, vast farms and citrus plantations, beach resort hotels, car rentals, an airline and a fleet of buses. It also owns one of the largest retail chains in the country.
Generals runs Cuba's sugar industry, administer the ports and direct the lucrative cigar industry.
Its core of trained managers may also prove useful to Raul Castro if he decides to open up Cuba's economy along Chinese lines, as some analysts expect.
"He is probably the only person in Cuba capable of convincing the hard-liners to open up the economy," the European diplomat said.
The FAR is also popular, unlike most Latin American militaries. It is an article of faith that the army cannot fire on the people, Klepak said.
"Tiananmen Square is the greatest nightmare the armed forces have. When Cuban military officers saw Chinese armor moving against civilians they said 'No way'," he said.
The other nightmare for Cuba's leadership is that East European armies were "not willing to risk a fingernail" in the defense of communism when the Soviet Union fell apart, he said. The Cuban authorities expect otherwise from the FAR.
See Full Story
posted by Yimboro | 7:06 PM
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