20070503—
A Cuban military officer has died after being
taken hostage in an attempted hijacking at Havana
airport, the interior ministry has said.
The officer was killed by two army deserters who had
boarded a plane, officials said. The operation to
end the attempted hijacking reportedly involved a
fierce gun battle. The two deserters were among three
conscripts who escaped from their barracks. All three
are now in custody. According to a statement from
the Cuban government, early on Thursday morning two
Cuban army recruits commandeered a local bus, seizing
several hostages. They drove the bus to Havana's main
airport and managed to board a empty plane. The Cuban
government says that inside the plane the hijackers
killed one of their hostages, an unarmed lieutenant
colonel in the Cuban army. In the operation to end
the attempted hijacking, which according to local
residents involved a fierce gun battle, none of the
other hostages were apparently harmed. The two hijackers
were part of a group of three conscripts who deserted
their base on Saturday, having stolen automatic weapons.
The Cuban government says that during the breakout
an army watchman was killed by the escaping soldiers.
The two hijackers have been taken into custody. The
third soldier was captured earlier in the week. This
is the first reported hijacking attempt in Cuba since
2003. Source: BBC
20070401
— Army General Raúl Castro Ruz
presided over a session of the Ministry of Revolutionary
Armed Forces' (MINFAR) Military Council to evaluate
2006's "Year of Defense Preperation.
In
the reunion participated Revolutionay Armed Forces
(FAR) vice-ministers, first vice-minister of the Interior
Ministry, Army chiefs, and 150 principal chiefs of
the FAR from the central level to military regions,
and chiefs of large military units.
Through
a spirit of rigor analysis were the following themes:
planification and organization of combative disposition
and for defense, personnel preparation, logistic assurance,
command and control of material resources, engineering
conditioning for the theater of military operations,
production and modernization of war materials, tasks
directed at extending traditional and natural medicine
as well as working to guarantee adequate life and
work conditions for personnel.
A
great part of the session was dedicated to evaluating
the importance and transcending effort employed in
the field of defense for the nation, especially the
July 2006 proclamation of the Commander-in-Chief that
marked the beginning of Operation Caguairán.
[Operation
Caguairán's objective is to train and perfect the
mobilization process and deployment of troops as well
as the systematic preparation of reservists and militia.
--ed.]
A
novel method of effectiveness has been proven for
organizing the leveled preparation in campaign conditions
for those who are part of the regular unit reserves
of the FAR or form part of the Territorial Troop Militias
(MTT).
The
Defense Minister signaled that this process will continue
uninterrupted during the next twenty months until
the realization of "Bastion 2008 Strategic Exercise"
in November of this year, which will permit the incrementation
of preparation and update the knowledge of hundreds
of thousands of reservists and militia.
Army
General Raul Castro synthesized the following conclusions
of the military council:
- "Operation Caguairán signified a superior challenge for the politico-ideological work and mobilization capacity of the FAR. It has been an exceptional opportunity to prove how effective we have been throughout the years."
- "The preparation of chiefs, specialists, and command and control were put to the test, and of importance: the attitude of the nation towards defense."
- "In the recent analysis conducted by the Military
Councils of the armies, it could be taken into account
the exceptional role of Provincial and Municipal
Defense Councils, who have ratified once more their
indispensable link in our defensive system."
The
Defense Minister finalized his words expressing:
"What
has been obtained in 2006 bears fruit, in the first
place, of the work of the Revolution, of the ideological
values - patriotic and moral, of our nation."
"For
their firm response and conscience before defense
tasks, in the name of the Party and of the Commander-in-Chief,
I congratulate all the members of the FAR, including
civil workers, reservists and militia, combatants
of the Interior Ministry, organs of direction of the
Party, Government, Union of Young Communists - UJC,
mass organizations in different instances, directives
and workers of the central administrative organs of
the State, and of enterprises and workers centers."
Source: Granma
20070203
— A cultural/political ceremony
and military review took place in the grand tank unit
of that important command of the FAR-Revolutionary
Armed Forces, presided by Army Corps General Joaquín
Quintas Solá (Chief, Central Army and member of the
Central Committee) in Matanzas province. Also in attendance
were the provincial presidents of the defense councils
from Matanzas, Cienfuegos, Villa Clara, Sancti Spíritus
y Ciego de Ávila, as well as other chiefs and officers
of the FAR and MININT - Interior Ministry.
Also present in the military review were tank units,
infantry, artillery, special troops, youth army, Interior
Ministry, MTT - Territorial Militia Troops, Production
and Defense Brigades and camilitos of the area territory.
Source: Granma
