... Ramiro Valdes Menendez, who Granma reported Thursday is the new communications minister.
I will leave the Kremlinology to others, but it probably is key that Valdes has a long-standing, and sometimes bitter, ties with the Castro brothers.
This was the first ministerial appointment made since Cuban leader Fidel Castro underwent surgery to stop intestinal bleeding on July 31, just days before his 80th birthday, and handed over power provisionally on that same date to his younger brother, the island's long-time defense minister and No. 2 man in the regime.
Valdes, one of the protagonists of the revolution, served as interior minister from that Cabinet department's creation in June 1961 until 1968. He served a second tour as interior minister that ended in 1986.
He was one of the young revolutionaries who joined Fidel Castro in the July 26, 1953, attack on the Moncada barracks, considered the start of the Cuban Revolution, according to his biographical profile.
Twenty years ago, Valdes fell out of favor with the Castros, especially Raúl, and was removed as interior minister as part of a ploy by Defense Minister Raúl to add the Interior Ministry's police powers to his portfolio.
In his book, "After Fidel: The Inside Story of Castro's Regime and Cuba's Next Leader," former CIA man Brian Latell describes how Raúl delivered the bad news to Valdes — and how bigger things might now be in store for the general.
Valdes was summoned to Raúl's office, and just in case he might become violent, Raúl hid the chief of his personal security detachment in the bathroom that opens directly to his office. With his pistol drawn and cocked, the security man silently stood guard, listening to every word in the conversation as Valdes learned that his political star had fallen.
Some outside of Cuba believe the former minister could reemerge as a powerful rival to Raúl in a succession struggle, and that possibility gained some credibility in 2003 when Valdes emerged from years of obscurity with an appointment to the Council of State. If he were elevated again by Fidel, say, to a seat on the party Politburo, speculation about his rehabilitation might prove to be accurate."
Accurate, indeed.
UPDATED, 7:29 a.m. EDT, Sept. 1, 2006
Valdes will be not only the chief propagandist, but the chief censor, too.
The Miami Herald has more on the appointment, and what it might say about Raúl Castro and the future governance of Cuba.
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