CUBA: Communists Renovate Leadership, but Hold to Party Line

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Oct 13 1997 (IPS) - Cuba’s ruling Communist Party seems willing to do almost anything to keep its grip on power – except giving up the single-party socialist system and President Fidel Castro’s leadership.

Analysts point out that the fifth party congress which met Oct. 8-10 in Havana drastically reduced the size of the Central Committee, elected several “young” leaders to the Political Bureau, and confirmed the continuity of the economic reform process underway over the past few years.

The party also stressed that it would avoid, at any cost, the formulas that led to failure for the communist parties of the old eastern European socialist bloc. What happened to other revolutions “will never happen to ours,” Castro insisted.

The congress underlined the “continuity” of the revolution through new generations of leaders and “unity” at the top levels of leadership.

But although authorities attempt to avoid an image of an aging group of leaders, they are unwilling to make room at the top for minority voices, critics say.

Castro stressed that everything possible must be done to ensure that the Cuban revolution “will never be destroyed,” and above all that it “will never be destroyed by ourselves.”

In his long closing speech to the congress, the president emphasised the growing need for new leaders. The 71-year-old leader said he was not worried about the continuity of the ideas of the 1959 revolution, while recognising “the relative role” played by individuals. Analysts said his address seemed to be aimed at those who thought the socialist system would collapse if Castro died.

Castro once again accepted his designation as first secretary of the party, and failed to lay to rest speculation on whether Vice-President Carlos Lage could be named head of the Council of Ministers in his place early next year.

For now Castro will remain head of the Communist Party and the Councils of State and Ministers and commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

But there were changes in the party’s 25-member Political Bureau, elected Friday. Nearly half of the members of the select group are under 50, unusual compared to the experiences of the communist parties that were in power in Europe.

Among the “youngsters” reelected to the politburo figure Lage (age 46), Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina (41), Minister of Culture Abel Prieto (46) and Concepcion Campa (46), a scientist. Meanwhile, four of the five new members range in age from 36 to 44.

Jorge Luis Sierra, the youngest new member, heads the Communist Party in the nickel-rich province of Holguin, 770 kms from Havana. He is part of a generation of university-educated leaders with simple lifestyles.

While the partial renovation of the party’s highest-level body was expected, the drastic reduction of the Central Committee from 225 to 175 people – interpreted by analysts as an attempt at internal “de-bureaucratisation” – was not.

The second secretary of the party, Minister of the Armed Forces Raul Castro, said the measure responded to the need for “smaller, more agile leadership organs, capable of being convened on short notice.”

The brother of President Castro emphasised that in a country gripped by crisis for more than seven years, the top leadership bodies must be made up of people who even more than representing a sector or territory were capable of assuming the necessary responsibilities.

Several “historic” figures of the revolution were left out of the Central Committee, including Alfredo Guevara, the president of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Arts and Industries.

“Communists do not struggle for praise or honours,” said President Castro, who described the renovation of the highest- level party organs as “difficult but necessary.”

The congress of the 780,000-member Communist Party confirmed that economic policy would remain top priority over the next few years. Accordingly, half of the gathering’s sessions were dedicated to that question.

From 1989 to 1993, Cuba’s Gross Domestic Product fell 34.8 percent. Although last year’s 7.8 percent growth seemed to confirm that the Caribbean island nation was firmly on the road towards economic recovery, GDP growth is not expected to surpass two or three percent this year.