Government and Politics of Cuba

By Armando F. Mastrapa III*
Director, Department of Research
La Nueva Cuba
April 12, 2005

The Havana Taliban¹ emerged in 1999 when the Cuban regime demanded the return of Elián González from the United States.

These Castroite militants (see Table 1), who were indoctrinated while at university, have ascended to prominent national political positions (e.g. foreign minister, chief of staff), presently holding significant roles in the nomenklatura, and are to remain as political actors when Fidel Castro exits Cuba's political stage.

They are characterized as: (a) ardent defenders of the Cuban Revolution; (b) and resolute support for Fidel Castro and his designated successor Raul Castro.

When Felipe Perez Roque was promoted from being Fidel Castro's personal secretary to become foreign minister in May 1999, he sought out loyal militants in the Federation of University Students (Federación de Estudiantes Universitarios-FEU) to support the comandante en jefe (commander in chief), in his Battle of Ideas (Batalla de Ideas) campaign.²

Then FEU president, Hassan Pérez, called on students and the populace to continue the battle for Elián's salvation: "The university continues to be a trench of conquests of the revolution."³

During the Elián campaign, several taliban were interviewed by the world media, thereby giving a face to a "new generation of the revolution's mujahideen."⁴

Two members of this group (Felipe Pérez Roque and Carlos Valenciaga Díaz, the tropical version of a Cuban "Bormann") come from Fidel Castro's Coordination and Support Staff (Equipo de Apoyo y Coordinación al Comandante en Jefe).⁵

The former at one time was the Staff's chief while the latter is its present one.

These young orthodox hard-liners are protagonists in the dynamic succession of continuation that is underway. However, the long overdue VI Congress of the Cuban Communist Party (VI Congreso del Partido Comunista de Cuba) will be the battle ground for political control of the regime among the prevalent factions (technocrats, taliban, and military) within the elite power structure headed by its aged and deteriorating maximum leader: Fidel Castro.

¹ The descriptive metaphor for this group of Castroite fundamentalists was coined by Jean-François Fogel in "Le Dernier Carré Du Pouvoi Castriste," Le Monde, 26 Octobre 2003, accessed at: <http://coranet.radicalparty.org/pressreview/print.php?func=detail&par=7044>. See also El Pais. "Los posibles sucesores de Fidel Castro en Cuba," 14 Noviembre 2004, accessed at: <http://elpais-cali.terra.com.co/HOY/INT/B1014N1.html#>. The Taliban were Muslim fundamentalists who ruled Afghanistan and hosted Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist network until losing their grip on power during a 2001 U.S.-led bombing campaign and an assault by Afghan rebels. The Taliban maintained a narrow, repressive vision of society and a hatred for the “infidel” West. See Council on Foreign Relations, Terrorism: Questions and Answers accessed at: <http://cfrterrorism.org/afghanistan/taliban.html>.

² Abel Prieto (Cuban Culture Minister) describes in an interview what the Battle of Ideas entails: "...the Battle of Ideas arose in the context in the battle for the return of the little boy, Elián González...The entire population was shaken by this case and many artists and professionals of the world press and of culture participated, together with the people in massive actions demanding the return of the child. This gave Fidel the idea of working towards developing the Cubans with an integral general culture and, at the same time, taking it to all the corners of the country. See Tiempo de Cuba, November 7, 2004, accessed at: <http://www.walterlippmann.com/abelprieto-11-7-2004.html>.

⁵ "The Staff is a group of about 20 individuals who serve Fidel Castro and with his authority carry out his conceived programs and tasks." For an analysis of the Coordination and Support Staff see Armando F. Mastrapa III, "Equipo de Coordinación y Apoyo al Comandante en Jefe: Cuba's Parallel Government?" in Cuba in Transition, Volume 11, (Washington: D.C.: Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy, 2001), accessed at: <http://www1.lanic.utexas.edu/project/asce/pdfs/volume11/mastrapa.pdf>. (pdf file)

⁷ Pérez Casabona was displaced and voted second secretary of the national leadership of the Young Communist League, which even took Fidel Castro by surprise. Julio Martínez Ramírez was elected as the organization's new first secretary. Martínez Ramírez is young, charismatic, and is soft mannered. He is always seen accompanying Raúl Castro, and sitting to his right in public ceremonies. The selection of Martínez Ramírez suggests that certain moderate groups are reaching the regime's power structure. See Periodico Vanguardia, "Cuban Youth Commended by Fidel Castro for Role in Social Programs," 5 Diciembre 2004, accessed at: <http://www.vanguardia.co.cu/index.php?tpl=design/secciones/lectura/news.tpl.html`"wsid_obj_id=6090>; Aleaga Pesant, "Sorprenden cambios en la dirección de la UJC," CubaNet, 9 Diciembre 2004, accessed at: <http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y04/dec04/10a2.htm>, however. Nearly a dozen leaders of the youth organization were arrested and charged with corruption. All are linked to the "Battle of Ideas" campaign. See Pablo Alfonso, "Corrupción y `Batalla de Ideas'," El Nuevo Herald, 9 Marzo 2005, accessed at: <http://www.miami.com/mld/elnuevo/news/columnists/pablo_alfonso/11084454.htm>.

*Armando F. Mastrapa III is Director of the Department of Research of the online newspaper La Nueva Cuba and editor of the Government and Politics of Cuba Internet Web Site. He received a Master of Arts in Government and Politics from St. John’s University (New York City). He has written extensively on international and comparative politics.

© Copyright 2005 Armando F. Mastrapa III. All Rights Reserved. Permission to reproduce, distribute, and/or quote from this work for non-profit, educational purposes is freely granted, always provided that proper reference to the author be included and that this notice accompany copies of a section or more of text. Reproduction and/or citation for profit and/or non-educational purposes is expressly forbidden without prior consent from the author.