The arrival of Yuniasky Crespo Baquero, successor to Rogelio Polanco, comes at the same time as the change in management at Granma and Juventud Rebelde.
14ymedio, Madrid, September 26, 2025 — Yuniasky Crespo Baquero, who is just 48 years old and has already served 13 years on the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party [PCC], is the new head of the Ideological Department as of Thursday, a position that was apparently vacant since Rogelio Polanco left as ambassador to Vietnam in November 2024. Ten months have passed without the PCC announcing a replacement, and it is unknown who assumed the role of guardian of the essence of the PCC and its media during that long interim.
Until now, Crespo had been the head of the Department of Social Sector Assistance, a position she held concurrently with her position as a member of the National Assembly since 2013. From that same year until 2018, under the presidency of Raúl Castro’s, she was a member of the Council of State.
The leader has had a brilliant career to where she is today in the party. As a child, she was a class representative in both primary and secondary school, and in that capacity attended the Second Pioneers Congress and was invited to the Third. Later, in high school, she became president of the Federation of Secondary School Students and, as a member of the University Student Federation (FEU), participated in the organization of the Sixth Congress, where she was appointed a professional member of the national secretariat.
Until now, Crespo had been in charge of the Department of Social Sector Care, a position she held simultaneously with her position as a deputy in the National Assembly since 2013.
She also has an extensive career in the Union of Young Communists (UJC), holding positions on the municipal and provincial committees of Las Tunas, working for the Vanguard of the Education Workers’ Union in 2009 and 2010, and holding countless other positions within the organization and its branches.
On the professional front, her studies in Education, specializing in Marxism-Leninism and History, don’t seem to have landed her a job as a teacher, but they do provide her with exactly the training she needs for her new position, a highly relevant position for the fight prioritized by the regime.
The exact date of her appointment is unknown, but on her Facebook profile, where she is very active, she posted about the graduation—last Wednesday—of the first class of the Doctoral Training Program in Political Direction of Society at the Ñico López Party University, where she was previously mentioned as attending in that capacity. At the same ceremony, the “Declaration of the Revolutionary Government in support of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela” was signed.
This signature drive in support of Maduro at a time of escalating tensions with Washington over military operations in the Caribbean is being carried out across the island, including in schools and all types of centers, and is likely the first major propaganda effort of Crespo’s leadership.
Moves like those realized by the Party’s main press outlets, Granma and Juventud Rebelde, could also be motivated by the new ideological chief. The announcement of the new directors of both outlets was made on Wednesday, when Yoerky Sánchez Cuellar’s appointment to the top post at Granma was announced . Also a member of the Central Committee, a deputy in the National Assembly, and a member of the Council of State, his profile is very similar to Crespo’s and he rises directly from Juventud Rebelde.
He joined the newspaper after graduating in 2007 with a degree in journalism and working for the newspaper Vanguardia in Villa Clara and the magazine Alma Mater. Since 2014, he has been with Juventud Rebelde, where he quickly rose to become director in 2017.
He is succeeded by Yuniel Labacena Romero, 36 years old—just five years younger than Sánchez—who holds a degree in Journalism and is a member of the UJC National Committee. His career has been fully developed in the media outlet he now directs.
Crespo’s succession, meanwhile, has also been finalized. Rolando Ernesto Yero Travieso is now the new head of the Department of Social Sector Care, where he arrives from his position leading the Office of Care for the Youth Civic Union (UJC). A physician by training, specializing in internal medicine, his experience is almost exclusively in the political sphere, and the closest he has come to the sector in which he trained was when he managed “Health, Science, and the Pharmaceutical Industry” in the province of Havana.
While waiting to come to know the substance and methods of the new leader, she already has the enthusiastic support of a Pinar del Río militant on social media, who has praised her to the detriment of her predecessor. “For me, this is some of the best news I can read right now, after many years of neglect and deterioration of one of the most important tasks of the PCC. I have actually been denouncing for several years the lack of political and ideological work of the PCC and the UJC, a department that is fundamental to sustaining our revolutionary process and that practically disappeared under the ‘leadership,’ or rather the lack of direction, motivation, and disinterest in the activity of Rogelio Polanco Fuentes,” the user wrote.
“I truly don’t know why he was secretly and covertly appointed Cuban ambassador to Vietnam, when what he really wanted was to be removed from all party and government positions and return to being a journalist. I’m pleased that we now have a leader in the Ideological Department, but I’m even more pleased to know that its head is a woman with several years of experience in party work. I’m convinced that from now on, this department will return to what it was before Polanco,” the Pinar del Río native concluded.
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
