CUBAN MILITARY: A news chronology

(From stories compiled by FOCAL, the Canadian Foundation for the Americas)

2006

Cuban Military and Alliances

September 25: The Chief of Congo Brazzaville's Armed Forces (FAC) staff, Division General Charles Richard Mondjo, received high rank military honours during the first day of his official visit to Cuba. While reviewing the troops at Rescate de Sanguily Tank Unit, the official and his delegation were accompanied by Cuban Brigade general Eliecer Velazquez. Cuban Division general Samuel Rodiles Planas welcomed the Congolesse military delegation at El Cacahual, where the visitors dedicated a wreath to Cuban hero Antonio Maceo. Division general Mondjo and his delegation were issued an invitation by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces Ministry (FAR). In September 2003, Minister Delegate to Congo's Presidency, Division General Jacques Yvon Ndolou, visited Cuba and was received by Defense Minister Army general Raul Castro. (Prensa Latina, 25/9/06)

September 28: An intergovernmental agreement on settling Cuba's debt to Russia on earlier Russian credits has been signed during a visit to Cuba by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. The sides also concluded an agreement on military-technical cooperation. Mikhail Fradkov told journalists that the military agreement is not covered by the credit which Russia is giving Cuba. "This means that Cuba will pay Russia directly for the military machinery which interests it," Fradkov explained, noting that, "the Cuban army has Soviet hardware which requires repairs and maintenance". According to the online publication Strategy Page, the agreement will allow Russian forces to use Cuban bases for intelligence collection, and other purposes. (ITAR TASS, Strategy Page, 28/9/06)

October 8: Speaking at the closing session of the Fourth Congress of the Jose Marti Pioneers Organization, Raul Castro said that they [the US] should not be mistaken with this small country home to an honourable and peaceful people, "If they pick a fight with us they will met by a potent olive-green force (…) We want the best for our people, but they want the worst." Raul Castro announced that a military parade would take place in Havana on December 2, to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, during which a display of the army's modernized weapons systems would take place. He also said that another military parade would take place on November 30 in Santiago de Cuba, on occasion of the 50th anniversary of the uprising of that city in support of the landing of the revolutionary forces of the Granma yacht. (Granma, 10/10/06)

November 3: Unconfirmed media reports alleged that the acting president of Cuba, Raúl Castro, would have ordered - through general Julio Casas Regueiro - the withdrawal of Cuban military personnel from Venezuela. According to Venezuelan press reports, neither confirmed nor denied by Caracas or Havana, several flights carrying Cuban military personnel have taken off from Ramp 4 of the Maiquetía airport, Barquisimeto, and from the Oro Negro Airport in Cabimas. (EER, 3/11/06)

November 4: Troops marched in the streets and fighter jets streaked across the skies of Havana rehearsing a December 2 celebration of the 50th anniversary of the start of the Cuban revolution and the 80th birthday of its leader, Fidel Castro. The military parade will be the first in a decade in the Cuban capital and may bring Castro's first public appearance since he had intestinal surgery in July that forced him to cede power temporarily to his brother Raul. The rehearsal included the reading of a script over booming loudspeakers that contained several references to "our undefeated and invincible commandante Fidel Castro Ruz," giving no indication he would not show up. After the Granma replica passed the reviewing stand, about 2,000 soldiers and marines marched past. Earlier, three fighter jets and two military helicopters made a practice run over Havana. The actual parade will include tanks and heavy weapons, said an organizer who identified himself only as Lt. Col. Rodriguez. "We're not going to fill the plaza with all the planes, tanks or all the arms we have, only what is necessary for the enemy to know that we are prepared," he told the press. (Reuters, 4/11/06)

December 2: Cuba's armed forces marshaled their Soviet-era arsenal in a parade to show the world, especially the arch-enemy United States, they remain a force to be reckoned with as their ailing leader Fidel Castro fades. Aged tanks, rocket launchers and MIG jet fighters roared through Havana's Revolution Square before a crowd of 300,000 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Revolutionary Armed Forces' (FAR) birth as a ragtag rebel force Castro led ashore from the leaking yacht "Granma" on December 2, 1956. Soldiers marched past and a replica of the Granma, the yacht that carried Fidel Castro back from exile, was pulled along the street. Leading the pomp was Defense Minister and interim president Raúl Castro, accompanied by three original commanders of the Revolution: Ramiro Valdes, Juan Almeida and Guillermo García. In his speech, Army Raúl Castro Ruz said that Cuba is increasing its combat capacity and modernizing its combat equipment to guarantee the country's defense. The parade was also scheduled to close the festivities of Fidel Castro's 80th birthday. (The Miami Herald, BBC, Reuters, Granma International, 2/12/06)

December 4: Cuba is willing to strengthen cooperation, including military cooperation, with China, the first vice-president of the Council of the State of Cuba and Defence Minister Raul Castro said, while meeting with a visiting Chinese military delegation. Raul expressed his satisfaction at the smooth development of exchanges and cooperation between the Cuban and Chinese armies in the areas of personnel and military trainings, and hoped the cooperation could be further strengthened. He also thanked the Chinese military delegation for attending the 50th anniversary commemorating the founding of Cuba's armed forces. Leader of the delegation Gen Zhao Keming conveyed the kind wishes from the Chinese people and military to the Cuban leader, Raul's brother Fidel Castro, hoping him a quick recovery from surgery.  Before the meeting, Gen Zhao also met with Alvaro Lopez Miera, chief of the General Staff of Cuba's armed forces. The two generals discussed possible cooperation between the two armies in the future. (Xinhua, 4/12/06) 

December 10: Thousands of Cubans participated in the National Defense Days, aimed at training the population to face any possible armed aggression. The two-day exercises intend to continue improving the preparation of all Cubans involved in the Defense Councils, under the principle of the "War of the Entire People". Members of the Territorial Troop Militias, Special Troops, Production and Defense Units, and the Revolutionary Armed Forces participated in territorial defense drills. (Prensa Latina, Granma, 11/12/06)