Alarcon Removed from Cuba’s Communist Party Central Committee
HAVANA TIMES — The Communist Party of Cuba, the only party allowed in the country, replaced on Monday five members of its 100+ member Central Committee, during a plenary session held in the capital, reported Granma newspaper.
Among those removed was Ricardo Alarcon, 76, the head of the Cuban parliament for two decades until he was replaced last February by veteran politician Esteban Lazo. Alarcon also previously held the posts of Cuban ambassador to the UN and Cuba’s ambassador to Washington.
Alarcon has also been the leading campaigner for the release of the Cuban Five. It was not mentioned if he would remain in that capacity.
Others removed from the Central Committee were Jose Miguel Miyar, former Minister of CITMA, Misael Enamorado, former member of the Communist Party Secretariat; Orlando Lugo, former president of the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP), and Liudmila Alamo, ex-secretary of the Young Communist League (UJC).
Replacing the members who got the boot are the first secretaries of the provincial committees of the PCC of Ciego de Avila province, Mayabeque, Villa Clara, Pinar del Rio, Matanzas, Las Tunas, and Artemis.
Also included on the Central Committee were Yuniasky Crespo, secretary of the UJC, Felix Gonzalez, president of ANAP, Carlos Rafael Miranda, national coordinator of the CDR, and Rogelio Polanco, ambassador to Venezuela.
Whatever happened to the perhaps revolutionary idea of having the members of the central committee be elected by the party congress or even better the full membership rather than by the general secretary?
I considered him one of the more charismatic officials in the regime and his English was impeccable. They should still try to use him in the diplomatic corps. He put a good face to the Cuban government and has excellent experience, unless he’s too old-school. Sometimes an old dog can’t learn new tricks.
Dumping 5 out of 100+ members is hardly a process of renewal or change. Until Cuba holds free and open elections, not one of them democratically represents the Cuba people.
Mostly ‘illogical’. Given Alarcon’s years of experience in New York and Washington, among the ‘historicos’, he is the most experienced with regards to understanding US political nuances. He is an invaluable resource with regards to Cuba’s urgent need to restore relations with the US. He is as corrupt as the worst of them but it is still a mistake to exile him to what Cubans call the “Pajama Plan”. He has been odd man out since the beating he took in his debate with Jorge Mas Conosa, his ridiculous comment about planes bumping into each other in his answer to Eliecer Avila and finally his obvious connection to his assistant convicted of corruption. He is one of the last holdovers from the Fidel dynasty so it was just a matter of time before he would be given the boot. Raul has not so discreetly replaced his brother’s cabal with a cabal of his own wizardry. Alarcon is likely just the next in line to leave.
Are these retirements ideological or biological?