Cuba Has New Defense Minister

HAVANA TIMES, Nov. 9 — Cuba has a new defense minister, General Leopoldo Cintra Frias, who was the 70-year-old vice minister.  The announcement came on Tuesday.

Cintra takes the post of Julio Casas Regueiro, who died of a heart attack two months earlier.  Cuban President Raul Castro had held the key position for 49 years before he was replaced by Reguiero, when he assumed the presidency.

The new defense minister fought as a teenager under Fidel Castro in the years preceeding the 1959 Cuban revolution.  He later commanded Cuban troops in Angola.

General Alvaro Lopez Miera, 68, is the new first deputy defense minister.  He also retains his post as chief of staff of the Armed Forces.