Cuba: Raúl Castro appears for the first time since his criminal indictment

Havana/Raúl Castro reappeared this Friday in Havana dressed in a military uniform and surrounded by the leadership of Cuban power and its repressive forces, in an act that the Government presented as a tribute for his 95th birthday and for the 65th anniversary of the Ministry of the Interior. The ceremony, held at the Karl Marx Theater, is the first public appearance of the Army general since the US Justice Department criminally charged him in May for the death of the four crew members of two Brothers to the Rescue planes, shot down in 1996 in international waters.

The former ruler did not speak. Sitting in the front row, he delivered a message read by the minister and Army Corps general Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas. In the text, Castro congratulated the “officers, combatants, civilian workers and students” of the institution, which he defined as “an indispensable bulwark in the defense of the sovereignty and tranquility of the Cuban nation.” He also praised their “unwavering loyalty” and asked, in the “current historical moment,” to continue working with “order, control and responsibility.” The message closed with an exhortation to “continue defending with honor and commitment the work of the Revolution and the future of the country.”

Miguel Díaz-Canel – dressed in olive green – presented the nonagenarian general not only as a historical leader, but as a spiritual founder of the Cuban security apparatus when he was 27 years old. That Secret Service Corps of the General Staff of the Rebel Army in the Second Eastern Front Frank País, quoted the president, had to face “everything that could affect, compromise or endanger the security of our rebel forces.”

Díaz-Canel stated that the United States is targeting Gaesa “because it knows of its effectiveness in the face of the permanent economic blockade” and because the contributions of its companies to the socio-economic development of the country are “notable.”

The scene seemed calculated less to respond to Washington than to appeal, urgently, to the loyalty of internal forces. Díaz-Canel called him “leader of the Cuban Revolution”, “teacher, guide and inspiration” of the Armed Forces and the Interior, and raised the slogan of these days to a totalizing formula: “Raúl is Cuba, Cuba is no longer touched!” The message not only sought to shield the old general from outside pressure, but also to remind the military and security apparatus that their loyalty to Raúl is equivalent, in the official narrative, to the very defense of the nation.

The reappearance occurred two days after the United States imposed new sanctions against Díaz-Canel, his wife Lis Cuesta, several members of the Castro family circle and entities of the regime, including the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces. In May, Washington had already intensified its offensive against the Cuban economic and military apparatus, in particular against Gaesa, the conglomerate controlled by the military.

In this context, Díaz-Canel dedicated a substantial part of his intervention to defending the SA Business Administration Group. “The attack on Gae is not coincidental, it is not just another media campaign,” he stated. According to the president, the United States targets this business system “because it knows its effectiveness in the face of the permanent economic blockade” and because the contributions of its companies to the socio-economic development of the country are “notable.” He also denied that there is corruption or enrichment of the military elite and attributed these accusations to “another big lie,” despite numerous indications about Gaesa’s shady handling of multimillion-dollar funds.

What he avoided saying, however, is that those “infiltrators” were Cubans residing in the United States and that a dense opacity still weighs on the episode.

“The reaction of several companies that are leaving Cuba these days is the result of the coercive measures of the US Government,” said Díaz-Canel. The president did not mention any chain by name, but placed these exits within a larger offensive that, according to him, seeks to cut off fuel, investments, credit, trade, food, medicine and basic supplies.

The speech also recovered the military tone. Before Raúl, commanders of the Ministry of the Interior and heads of the Armed Forces, Díaz-Canel remembered the 32 Cubans “who fell in Venezuela on January 3.” According to his story, those men “went out to fight” despite the “surprise factor” and the “disproportion in weapons and forces” of the enemy. His death, he said, left “a clear message of how millions of Cubans would act in defense of the homeland, if it were attacked.”

He then alluded to another episode presented by the Government as evidence of armed infiltration. Five members of the Border Guard Troops, he assured, neutralized a team of ten men who intended to settle in Cuban territory with “a considerable cache of war weapons.” “Five defeated ten!” he exclaimed, before highlighting that the ship’s commander, seriously injured, “never abandoned his mission.” What he avoided saying, however, is that those “infiltrators” were Cubans residing in the United States and that a dense opacity still weighs on the episode.

The closing took the ceremony to Guantánamo. Díaz-Canel evoked Operation Patty, an alleged 1961 CIA plan to assassinate Raúl Castro in Santiago de Cuba and simulate an attack against the US Naval Base, with the aim of justifying military intervention. According to the president, the newly created Ministry of the Interior dismantled that operation through a “counterplan” called Candela, which allowed “Raúl’s life to be preserved and Washington to be publicly unmasked.”

The allusion is directly related to a recent event. On May 29, the head of the US Southern Command, General Francis Donovan, met at the perimeter of the Guantánamo Naval Base with General Roberto Legrá Sotolongo, chief of the General Staff and first deputy minister of the FAR. According to reports, both parties discussed operational safety issues and agreed to maintain communication channels.

Díaz-Canel thus connected past and present, in a speech with a tense tone and nervous gestures. Operation Candela, the Guantánamo enclave, the 32 deaths in Venezuela, the intercepted boat, the sanctions, the departure of companies and the lack of fuel were integrated into the same story of a besieged plaza. “If the homeland is attacked, we will respond in legitimate defense,” he warned. “And if they try to enter, let there be no doubt: there will be determined and firm combat!”