CUBA: Former Foreign Minister Kicked Out of Communist Party

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Jul 31 2002 (IPS) - Former foreign minister Roberto Robaina was “dishonourably” expelled from Cuba’s governing Communist Party for “irregularities” that some party members have not hesitated to describe as criminal activity or betrayal of President Fidel Castro.

The decision was adopted by the politburo, the Communist Party’s highest-level body, which recommended that the National Assembly (parliament) – to which Robaina still belongs, although without attending sessions – take measures against him.

The National Assembly’s next ordinary session is slated for December.

The politburo also said the 46-year-old former foreign minister, who is a math teacher by training, can only be employed in future in areas in which he would have no political or administrative responsibility.

Information on the case has been circulating quietly since May, in the form of a video recording that began to be shown Monday to a broader circle of party leaders, who were expressly authorised to discuss the issue with their families and friends, a source who wished to remain anonymous told IPS.

Local authorities say the former foreign minister withheld information from the government, had close ties with foreign political leaders, accepted gifts from foreign businesspeople in exchange for favours, and shared confidential information with friends from other countries.

The video does not indicate whether Robaina will face legal proceedings.

The recording shows a conversation between Robaina and Castro from May 27, 1999, the day before the foreign minister’s removal was announced, as well as an April, 2002 conversation between Robaina and the defence minister, General Raúl Castro, who is also the president’s brother.

The defence minister upbraided Robaina for revealing to foreigners the itinerary of trips that he was to make, as foreign minister, with the president. The Cuban government keeps details on Castro’s travels under tight wraps, for security reasons.

Raúl Castro also saw as “disloyal” Robaina’s close relationship with Spanish Foreign Minister Abel Matutes, who the former foreign minister reportedly advised on how to deal with the question of Cuba’s political prisoners with President Castro.

According to official reports, the last straw was a telephone conversation between the two foreign ministers, in which Matutes said Robaina was his “candidate” – apparently an allusion to eventual presidential elections in Cuba – and Robaina laughed.

“What candidacy…were you talking about with Matutes?” Raúl Castro is heard asking Robaina in the videotape, according to the anonymous source consulted by IPS.

“He went mad” or “the power went to his head” are some of the comments on Robaina heard among people who had access to the video recording. Some who knew the former minister well in the past have even described him as “corrupt.”

Robaina’s removal as foreign minister was announced in 1999 by Granma, the daily newspaper of the Communist Party, in a manner that foreign diplomats and correspondents termed “unusual” and “abrupt.”

On Mar 30, 1993, Granma had reported that Robaina was named foreign minister due to his “unquestionable skills in debate and discussions, his ability to come up with quick answers, his charisma, and his gift of dealing with people.”

“Robertico”, the diminutive with which even the press in Cuba referred to Robaina, had been an up-and-coming leader of the Union of Communist Youths (UJC), from which he made an unusually fast ascent to the politburo.

In the early 1990s, at the start of a severe economic crisis to which there was no end in sight, Robaina surrounded himself with a strong team of associates, and gave a new boost to the political work of the UJC among the youth of this socialist island nation of 11 million.

The then-youth leader, who was easily identifiable by the bicycle he used to ride around the streets of Havana, gained Castro’s trust, and became widely popular. But he also had high- level critics who warned of his excessive zeal for protagonism.

According to sources close to the government, some of Robaina’s advisers in the Foreign Ministry had ties to shady activities.

Among Robaina’s purported “disloyal” acts as foreign minister, the one that was allegedly of greatest concern to Castro was his close friendship with then-governor of the southeastern Mexican state of Quintana Roo, Mario Villanueva.

Villanueva, who is currently under investigation for his reported links to the drug cartel of the northern Mexican state of Juárez, loaned Robaina his private small plane, which he used on official trips as foreign minister, and gave him substantial amounts of money.

According to reports in Cuba, Villanueva asked Robaina to intercede with Castro on his behalf, in his quest for asylum in Cuba. Although the then-foreign minister refused the request, he failed to inform the government of the incident.

As foreign minister, Robaina also allegedly accepted gifts from foreign businesspeople, such as furniture for his home, in exchange for recommending them to government ministers for business deals with the Cuban state.

In addition, Robaina was accused of squandering precious funds at a time of crisis by organising unnecessary diplomatic receptions with the sole aim of promoting himself, and of showing favouritism towards his friends when it came to making appointments to diplomatic posts.

So far there has been no public reaction by Robaina, who since the start of the year was working on a development project in the Morro-Cabañas Park, located on Havana Bay, until last week.

When he was sacked as foreign minister in 1999, Robaina took a year-long course in a government school for party leaders. After that he quietly waited at home to be reassigned, while the government kept mum regarding his status.

Foreign correspondents sighted Robaina Wednesday in the streets of Havana, but he declined to make comments.

On Jul 26, President Castro stated that in general terms, corruption does not exist in Cuba, although he admitted that a few small, and “perhaps even big,” cases do crop up at times.

In 1989, General Arnaldo Ochoa and 13 other armed forces and Interior Ministry officers were tried and convicted on charges of corruption and drug trafficking. Ochoa and three others were given the death penalty.

In another scandal, Diocles Torralba, a former vice-president and transport minister, was found guilty of corruption.