Cuba's Raúl conducts purge by video

Cuba's Raúl conducts purge by video
By Marc Frank in Havana
Published: July 15 2009 03:00 | Last updated: July 15 2009 03:00

It is not the stuff of Khrushchev unmasking Stalin, nor the fall of
China's Gang of Four, but a three-hour film being shown to thousands of
the Cuban Communist party's 1m members this summer has emerged as a rare
admission that all is not well at the pinnacle of power in Havana.

The video footage is drawn largely from a March meeting of the Communist
party politburo and features Raúl Castro, the president, sacking most of
the cabinet he inherited from his ailing brother, Fidel, including
prominent political figures such as Carlos Lage, vice-president and
Felipe Perez Roque, foreign minister.

The presentation's main message, according to people who have seen it,
could not be clearer: the state is watching and Raúl will not tolerate
even the slightest breach of party discipline, any cosying up to
foreigners, or a hint of disloyalty as he attempts to put his brother's
revolutionary house in order.

The montage of footage from the meeting, recorded telephone
conversations, surveillance video, photographs and testimony narrated by
a state security official provides a rare glimpse of Cuba under Raúl,
who formally took over from Fidel in February 2008.

Party faithful who are invited to screenings are not allowed to bring in
recording devices, or even a pen and paper. A trip to the lavatory is
forbidden, as is attendance by the public or foreign journalists.

But in interviews with the Financial Times, people who have attended
showings recounted details of the presentation and what appears to be a
concerted effort by Raúl to portray a number of his brother's prominent
aides, including Carlos Valenciaga, Fidel's personal aid for almost a
decade, as either foreign lackeys or politically -disloyal.

Mr Lage was viewed by many inside and outside the country as a future
president, and Mr Perez as perhaps the next in line. Both were
personally groomed by Fidel and held up as apparent examples of loyal
and austere communists. Their dramatic fall from grace has left many
puzzled and wondering if a political purge was under way.

Those involved in the scandal are uncontactable and plainclothes
security agents have been observed surrounding Mr Lage's residence,
presumably to keep the foreign media at bay.

In the video montage, the president is seen waving Cuba's constitution,
demanding that it be respected, and changed where needed. He criticises
the Council of State, a 31-member executive stamp much used by Fidel to
govern, as having little, if any, practical purpose.

"If it [the council] can't be reformed it should be eliminated," he
says, according to people who have seen the presentation.

Sitting in his general's uniform behind a desk scattered with papers,
Raúl speaks of the importance of institutions and of following rules and
regulations. He tells his new cabinet they have 90 days to put their
domains in order and to set priorities. He says that, after that, he
does not want to see much of them, as he assumes they can perform their
jobs.

Later, he looks around the politburo and states: "I am now going to talk
of painful things."

The president announces the arrest of Conrado Hernández, the Cuban
representative of the Basque regional government's business operations,
and reads Mr Hernández's confession, in which he says he informed for
Spain's National Intelligence Centre, using his lifelong friendships
with Mr Lage and other protégés of Fidel.

Mr Hernández details the information and favours he received from each
man and the role each played in a clique of the disgruntled officials
who considered Cuba's ageing leadership unfit to govern, a clique that
included Dr Raúl Castellanos Lage - a former party leader, cardiologist
and Mr Lage's cousin, who first became the target of investigations
after he declared that stent placements for elderly leaders should be
botched for the good of the nation.

"Don't worry, we arrested Castellanos this morning," Raúl says in the video.

The president asks the accused if they have anything to say. The best
they apparently offer is ignorance of their friend's intelligence ties.

By this point some older theatre goers were rising from their seats to
shout that the accused should be imprisoned if not shot for treason,
witnesses at three different Havana showings said.

The presentation later features the wedding party of Dr Castellanos at
the Ambos Mundos Hotel in Havana. The luxurious fiesta took place on
February 23 2008, the day the politburo met to approve a new president,
first vice-president and other Council of State members for their
"election" the following day by parliament.

The clique had viewed Mr Lage as a sure bet to win the position of first
vice-president, the second most powerful post after the presidency.

In the video, Mr Lage arrives at the wedding from the politburo meeting
to inform Mr Perez on a hotel balcony that Jose Ramon Machado Ventura
was named first vice-president, violating an order by Raúl to keep the
news secret until the parliament vote. An infuriated Mr Perez swears and
states that Mr Machado will ruin the country. With the party mood
evaporating, Mr Hernández leaves to inform Spain's intelligence service
of the decision, according to his confession.

Mr Hernández is in prison on charges of treason, as is Dr Castellanos.
The cabinet members and Fidel protégés remain free. Mr Perez is working
at an electronics factory and Mr Valenciaga at the national library,
while Mr Lage remains holed up at home.

The apparent indiscretions documented in the presentation have been
registered by younger members of the Communist party. But whether the
message has been received as intended remains unclear.

"All these people were promoted by the party, obviously it shares the
blame," one younger party member told the Financial Times.

FT.com / UK - Cuba's Raúl conducts purge by video (15 July 2009)
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d673bc5a-70d5-11de-9717-00144feabdc0.html?FORM=ZZNR10&nclick_check=1