Armed Forces
Information and Resources
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Armed Forces Experts
The following is a list of recognized Cuba experts who are not affiliated with the Cuba Study Group -
Research Article: The Military in Cuba's Transition
by Brian Latell, Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, University of Miami -
Suggested Book: The Leasing of Guantanamo Bay
by Michael J. Strauss Praeger Security International 2009
Articles, Opinions, and Papers
November 2011
Raul Castro Names New Cuban Defense Minister
November 8, 2011
The New York Times
HAVANA (AP) - State media says President Raul Castro has named a close confidante as Cuba's new defense minister.An announcement read on Tuesday's nightly newscast said Leopoldo Cintra Frias, who joined Castro and his brother's rebel movement in his early teens and has been a soldier ever since, w
September 2011
Cuba’s next Defense Minister a puzzle
September 8, 2011
By Juan Tamayo, The Miami Herald
Cuba’s next Armed Forces Minister will be an old comrade-in-arms of Raúl Castro. Or a younger man whose selection will hint at the island’s future leadership. Or a hardliner who will not hesitate to crush street riots.
February 2011
Would Cuba’s soldiers pull the trigger?
February 24, 2011
Marifeli Perez-Stable, Miami Herald
Nineteen eighty-nine was a good year for freedom. Only in China did the Communist Party crush the protestors who slowly took possession of Tiananmen Square from April 14 on. When the tanks and soldiers rolled in on June 3-4, there was hardly any concrete to be seen on the square. Up to 1,500 people were massacred.
April 2010
CARACAS, Venezuela -- A former Venezuelan army general on Thursday denounced what he called the widespread involvement of Cuban troops in President Hugo Chavez's military. Former Brig. Gen. Antonio Rivero, who used to head the government's emergency management agency, said his decision to retire from the army this month was motivated mainly by "the presence and meddling of Cuban soldiers" in Venezuela's armed forces. He told reporters that Cubans are now involved in training troops, including courses for snipers, and are also playing a role in intelligence, weapons, communications and other areas. There was no immediate reaction from Chavez's government. Rivero's televised remarks add to claims by government critics that Cuban advisers and operatives hold various positions in the government and military. Opposition politician Julio Borges demanded earlier this month that the government provide information about Cubans working for the government, saying "never before in our history have we allowed citizens of another country to assume key posts associated with national security."
Borges said without providing details that Cuban advisers are now working at high levels in ports administration, telecommunications, immigration, the police, the electrical sector and the key oil industry. As director of the emergency management agency, Rivero used to be the voice of the government in responding to disasters including plane crashes and floods. He was replaced in that post in 2008 after five years and returned to his army duties. Rivero said in his infantry division there were "classes like the one for snipers" where Cuban soldiers and personnel provided training. He said Cubans were also involved in teaching military doctrine at the command level, and are also in divisions like military engineering. Cubans, he said, are now placed "at a high level in vital areas of national security."
Rivero also denounced the "politicization" of the military, including the slogan soldiers now repeat when saluting: "Socialist homeland or death!" Among other complaints, he condemned Chavez's enlistment of supporters in a growing civilian militia and said it's improper for the president, a civilian, to wear a military uniform as Chavez often does. Chavez, a former paratroop commander, has made Cuba his closest ally since he took office in 1999. He often visits Fidel Castro, calling him a mentor, and has praised Cuba as a "revolutionary democracy."
Venezuela has also become a key economic benefactor to Cuba, sending the island about 100,000 barrels of oil a day on preferential terms in exchange for the services of thousands of Cuban doctors, whose work in free clinics has helped boost Chavez's political support. During a speech to Cubans in that medical mission last week, Chavez told the crowd: "Cubans, I tell you speaking from the heart, I feel like I'm from Cuba now. I feel like I'm one more Cuban."
During a meeting in Caracas this week, neither Chavez nor Cuban President Raul Castro publicly discussed details of Cuban advisers' other government roles. The Cuban president said before leaving on Wednesday that he is pleased relations are growing stronger. Increasingly, Castro said, "we're the same thing."
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March 2010
U.S. report: Cuban media seldom fault military's role in economy
March 25, 2010
Juan Tamayo, El Nuevo Herald
Cuba's government-run news media regularly praises the armed forces as a model of efficiency, yet seldom mentions their powerful role in the island's crippled economy, according to a U.S. intelligence report. Raúl Castro has been increasingly presenting himself as a civilian leader, the report added, appearing less frequently in his army general's uniform and more often in suits or guayaberas. The report was issued Feb. 26 by the Open Source Center (OSC), a U.S. intelligence community branch that monitors foreign news accounts. It was not publicly released, but a copy was obtained and published by Secrecy News, a Federation of American Scientists program on government secrecy. Cuba's military, widely viewed as the most respected official institution on the island, controls an estimated 60 percent of the country's economy, hard hit by the global financial crisis, hurricane damages and domestic failures. Many of its top officers have studied business administration abroad, and the management system it uses in its own enterprises in areas such as tourism is portrayed in Cuba as a model to be followed. The OSC analysis noted, however, that while Cuba's official media frequently praised the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), it made little mention of the military's leading role in the economy. ``State media portray the military as a model of collective and individual performance [and] regularly find fault with civilian agencies and workers .... but coverage of the military is generally ... silent on the subject of FAR involvement in the Cuban economy,' the report noted. The state media in 2009 ``had only one mildly critical report on the military: a call for improved living conditions for active duty soldiers,' added the report, titled ``Cuba -- Military's Profile in State Media Limited, Positive.'
One Radio Rebelde broadcast on Sept. 2 directly contrasted what it called the FAR's immediate response to the three hurricanes that devastated Cuba in 2008 with the ``slow pace of civilian-led recovery work,' according to the OSC report. ``There's a disconnect here. They have a pretty large phalanx of military people running the economy,' yet they're spared blame for the economic crisis, said Brian Latell, senior research associate at the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies. ``Maybe it's another reflection of the ... dysfunction of the regime.'
The OSC report added that Castro was ``atypically visible and engaged' during the Bastión military exercise in November, ``but more commonly he presents himself as a civilian rather than military leader.'
``Castro appeared in uniform in about one-fourth of his media appearances during 2009, down from just over a third in 2008,' according to the report, and he ``generally meets foreign visitors wearing a suit or a more casual guayabera.'
Castro gave up his job as minister of defense and became president ofCuba in early 2008, replacing his ailing brother Fidel, although the Havana media still refers to him often as ``General Raúl Castro.'
Other top military officers, such as Defense Minister Gen. Julio Casas Regueiro, his three three vice ministers and the commanders of Cuba's three regional armies, had a ``largely ceremonial presence in state media, where the military receives limited but overwhelmingly favorable coverage.'
Their names appeared in the media less often last year than in 2008, but that's probably because several were promoted in 2008, according to the OSC report. Vice Defense Minister Gen. Leopoldo Cintra Frias was the most visible military leader in 2009, mentioned 17 times in the media, according to the report, and was the only one reported to have traveled abroad.
November 2009
HAVANA -- Cuba's armed forces launched three days of intense military exercises across the island Thursday, a mobilization that state-controlled media says is designed to guard against an American invasion. Americans focused on a U.S. military assault more likely are thinking about how President Barack Obama will pursue war in Afghanistan - not Cuba. But the siege mentality of the Cold War hasn't faded on the island, where the communist government continues to warn about imperialist aggression and the menace from the north. The exercises, which run through Saturday, are the first since President Raul Castro took over from his brother Fidel in February 2008 - and since relations between Havana and Washington began to thaw somewhat under Obama. The U.S. leader has loosened financial and travel restrictions on Cuba. The two countries have begun negotiations on restarting direct mail service, and there is talk of future cooperation on counter-narcotics and disaster relief, among other things. More than the specifics, officials on both sides speak of a new tone between Havana and Washington that has made further progress a possibility. But the rhetoric connected with Thursday's mobilization - dubbed "Bastion 2009" - displayed none of that new warmth. Radio Rebelde said the attack was aimed at "confronting a possible aggression by North American imperialism." The state-run newspaper Granma called the mobilization the largest and most important in more than five years. The exact number of troops involved are not known, but past exercises have involved hundreds of thousands of people - both uniformed and civilian. "The current political-military situation that characterizes the confrontation between Cuba and the U.S. government has made these strategic exercises a necessity of the first order," said an article on the Radio Rebelde Web site. All Cuban media is tightly controlled by the government. Analysts say Cuba is more concerned with sending a message to those who would seek to destabilize the country than with an actual military assault. "I don't think it is so much that they expect an invasion or anything like it," said Hal Klepak, a Cuba military expert and professor emeritus at the Royal Military College of Canada. "I think what they worry about is disorder in Cuba of any kind that would lead to blood in the streets."
Such a show of force is particularly important, Klepak said, given the open question of who would succeed Fidel and Raul Castro, aged 83 and 78, and because of Cuba's current economic difficulties. But he said a fear of outside agitation is not far-fetched given America's long history of intervention in Cuba and the strong anti-Castro feelings of some in the exile community. In 1961, U.S.-backed Cuban exiles launched the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion against Fidel Castro's fledgling communist government. A year later, the world came to the brink of nuclear Armageddon after the Soviet Union stationed missiles on the island, and the United States insisted they be removed. Washington has maintained an economic embargo on Cuba for 47 years. Obama has said he would like to see Cuba's government enact social, political and economic reforms. But he has categorically ruled out a military invasion, most recently in written comments made last week to Cuban dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez. The military exercises began in the 1980s and have taken place sporadically since then, most recently in 2004. They were meant to be held in 2008, but had to be canceled because of the need to use the armed forces to help rebuild after several large hurricanes hit the island, causing billions of dollars in damage.
HAVANA -- Cuba's armed forces launched three days of intense military exercises across the island Thursday, a mobilization that state-controlled media says is designed to guard against an American invasion. Americans focused on a U.S. military assault more likely are thinking about how President Barack Obama will pursue war in Afghanistan -- not Cuba. But the siege mentality of the Cold War hasn't faded on the island, where the communist government continues to warn about imperialist aggression and the menace from the north. The exercises, which run through Saturday, are the first since President Raúl Castro took over from his brother Fidel in February 2008 -- and since relations between Havana and Washington began to thaw somewhat under Obama. The U.S. leader has loosened financial and travel restrictions on Cuba. The two countries have begun negotiations on restarting direct mail service, and there is talk of future cooperation on counter-narcotics and disaster relief, among other things. More than the specifics, officials on both sides speak of a new tone between Havana and Washington that has made further progress a possibility. But the rhetoric connected with Thursday's mobilization -- dubbed ``Bastion 2009' -- displayed none of that new warmth. Radio Rebelde said the attack was aimed at ``confronting a possible aggression by North American imperialism.' The state-run newspaper Granma called the mobilization the largest and most important in more than five years.
August 2009
A South Florida blogger read about the annual exercise between the Cuban and American military at Guantánamo and posted photos he says illustrate the below-the-radar collaboration. One of the pictures shows a Cuban military helicopter dropping water on what appears to be an area adjacent to the airstrip at the remote U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba. Another shows American sailors from the base hospital in what appears to be a mock medical treatment drill on a rocky bit of territory just inside Cuba. A now-abandoned U.S. Marine Corps barracks is clearly visible in the background. The blogger is Luis Domínguez, a Cuban-born Miamian who runs http://cubaaldescubierto.com, Cuba Uncovered. His name may be familiar to Cuba watchers as the man who earlier this year posed as a Colombian woman to lure one of Fidel Castro's son into an internet flirtation. Domínguez, who has studied the Cuban military for years, said he read about the exercise on July 20 in The Miami Herald. So he dug around archives of photos from Cuba he had pulled off the web through the years and found the images illustrating earlier cooperation. A U.S. military source familiar with the recent exercises but not authorized to speak about them said the photos appeared to be several years old. One shows a Cuban armed forces photographer with a old-fashioned film camera, but Cuban military media working with the Frontier Brigade, which guards the Cuban side, now carry state-of-the-art digital equipment. Another shows a Cuban helicopter with older-style camouflage paint. The cooperation, as portrayed in the photos, appears to show what Navy commanders have long described as a ``benign relationship' across a once acrimonious fenceline made famous by the Hollywood hit, A Few Good Men.
October 2008
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will offer to share its air defence expertise with Cuba when a military delegation visits the Caribbean island this week, Interfax news agency reported on Monday. "The Russian and Cuban military will exchange experience in organising tactical air defence and in training officers," Interfax quoted Russian Land Forces spokesman Igor Konashenkov as saying. The two sides will "discuss the prospect of training Cuban servicemen at the tactical air defence academies and training centres in Russia, using upgraded Russian-made military hardware," Interfax quoted him as saying. The delegation, led by the chief of Russia's tactical air defence headquarters, Lieutenant General Alexander Maslov, will also look at "ways to strengthen relations between the Russian armed forces and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba," Konashenkov was quoted as saying. The delegation will be in Cuba from Monday until November 3, Konashenkov was quoted as saying. Reuters could not immediately reach Konashenkov for comment. In 1962, Cuba became the focus of the deepest crisis of the Cold War after the Soviet Union installed missiles there, prompting a standoff with Washington. The island's government remains hostile to the United States. In the past few months, Moscow has stepped up contacts with both Cuba and Venezuela, another South American critic of the United States. (Reporting by Conor Sweeney; Editing by Caroline Drees).
July 2008
SANTIAGO, Cuba -- President Raúl Castro warned Washington that Cuba would stay focused on defense regardless of who wins November's presidential election. But he failed to announce more changes to the communist system during a major address Saturday night. Castro, a four-star general, instead highlighted the past in a 48-minute Revolution Day speech to thousands of supporters in front of the Moncada military barracks, where rebels led by his brother, Fidel, launched an attack 55 years ago and planted the seeds for the 1959 Cuban revolution. 'When we attacked the Moncada, none of us dreamed of being here today,' Castro told the crowd in Santiago, 535 miles southeast of Havana, the biggest city in Cuba's eastern half. He warned of more economic austerity for the already poor island in the face of rising food prices, but also used the speech to command Communist Party leaders to put Cuba's house in order and fulfill promises they make to the people. MESSAGE TO U.S. And he put the United States, which also hoped for greater change under his regime, on notice. 'We shall continue paying special attention to defense, regardless of the results of the next presidential elections in the United States,' Raúl said. Perhaps showing his age, the 77-year-old president ended the speech by mistakenly dedicating the 59th anniversary of the Moncada attack to his brother, Fidel. He then laughed at himself, noting that this year actually marked the 55th anniversary of the event. It was at a commemoration of this anniversary two years ago that Fidel Castro was last seen in public. He underwent emergency intestinal surgery shortly afterward and has only appeared in official videos and photographs since. The Moncada attack was a disaster, with many assailants killed and most of the rest captured. But it launched a movement that brought Fidel Castro to power when President Fulgencio Batista fled the country in 1959. Since taking office five months ago, Raúl Castro has made changes his older brother long opposed -- opening more fallow state lands to private farmers, legalizing cellphones for ordinary citizens and allowing some workers to seek legal title to their homes. Some Cubans hoped he would use the speech to ease restrictions on international travel or announce other incremental reforms, but none came. While both Castro brothers were born in Cuba's east, Raúl, five years younger than Fidel, seems happiest there. 'Raúl is a man of the people and Santiago is full of his people,' said Elizabeth Trumpeta, 42, an administrator at a government shoe repair shop who lives across the street from Moncada. FIDEL IS HAILED
Yet Fidel Castro -- not Raúl -- is featured on Revolution Day posters affixed to houses and businesses across Santiago. With a broad grin, he hoists a rifle skyward before a picture of the Moncada barracks, now a museum attracting more than 100,000 visitors annually. The crowd chanted 'Fidel! Fidel! Fidel!' and 'Long live Fidel!' throughout Saturday night's speech. Some Cubans say their hopes for change under the new government are fading. 'There are a lot of people on the street who talk about change, but we haven't had even one economic or political reform that counts, nothing we hoped for with Raúl,' said Oswaldo, a 69-year-old retired construction worker. He declined to give his last name, saying, ``Being able to openly criticize things is something else we can only hope for.'
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