The Council of State of Cuba has ceased Ricardo Cabrisas as Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, although he will maintain the position of deputy prime minister, state television reported this Thursday.
Cabrisas, 87, had headed the Foreign Trade portfolio since April 2023, when the Cuban dictator, Miguel Diaz-Canelrecently appointed for a second term, appointed him to replace Rodrigo Malmierca.
From now on, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment will be headed by its hitherto first deputy minister, Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fragaaccording to the information note, a 53-year-old electronic engineer, while Carlos Ruiz Jorge Mendez3 years old, was appointed as vice minister of the same portfolio.
This is a new movement announced by the Cuban president, which has included other public officials, including the former Minister of Economy and Planning Alejandro Gil, who was removed from office.
Cabrisas was already in charge of the Foreign Trade portfolio for 20 years (1980-2000) and has held other important positions in the Cuban Government, such as head of Economy and Planning (2016-2018) and vice president of the Council of Ministers (2008-2019).
For years it has also been the main negotiator of Cuba’s foreign debt with its foreign creditors, both State and private, and also holds the position of deputy to the Cuban Parliament. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC, the only legal one). He has been key in the negotiations with Russia, China, Iran and Venezuelastrategic allies of the island, in the midst of a deep economic crisis that the nation is going through.
With Cabrisas they add up six ministers who have been removed from office during the first year of Díaz-Canel’s second term, some “cadre movements” that included the high-profile dismissal last February of the then Minister of Economy and Planning, Alejandro Gil, currently being investigated for corruption.
In recent months there has also been an unusual number of changes in high-ranking political positions in the country, totaling around ten governors, vice-governors and first provincial secretaries of the PCC. In most cases the reasons for these terminations have not been disclosed.
The former Cuban Minister of Economy and Planning Alejandro Gil, dismissed on February 2, is being investigated by criminal means for an alleged crime of corruptionthe island’s largest political official investigated for corruption in more than a decade.
In an unusual statement, Díaz-Canel stated that after a “rigorous investigation” a series of “serious errors” in Gil’s conduct have been discovered with a high “level of verification.”
He also added that the former minister has acknowledged “serious accusations” and, consequently, resigned from the positions he still held, as a member of the central committee of the Communist Party of Cuba – the hard core of political power on the island – and as a deputy in the National Assembly of People’s Power (ANPP).
“As part of the invariable ethics of the Cuban revolution during these 65 years, the leadership of our party and the Government has never allowed and will never allow the proliferation of corruption, simulation and insensitivity,” says Díaz-Canel.
Gil, who came to office in 2018 at the hands of Díaz-Canel and served in that position until February 2, He is the highest-ranking official of the Cuban Government and the PCC investigated for corruption in more than a decade.
Gil’s mandate as head of Economy and Planning was full of controversy due to a series of measures that failed to address the crisis that Cuba has been facing for more than three years and to correct its serious economic distortions. In fact, his surprise dismissal had until now been attributed mainly to his management errors.
(With information from EFE and Reuters)
