The 10th Plenary Session is committed to closing ranks and militarizing the political apparatus.
14ymedio, Havana, 4 July 2025 — The X Plenary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) began this Friday in the Palace of the Revolution with the usual speeches laden with a rhetoric of resistance. The meeting, which will conclude this Saturday, called for in-depth analysis and national mobilization, although the immediate result was a greater militarization of the political apparatus.
In a context where shortages, deterioration of essential services, mass migration and social disenchantment are reaching critical levels, the leadership decided to strengthen the core of the Central Committee with figures coming directly from the Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior. Major General Raúl Villar Kessel, head of the Central Army, and Brigadier General Oscar A. Callejas Varcalce, head of the Political Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior, were added as new members of the highest organ of the PCC. The “unanimity” that approved their admission is not surprising, as it follows the logic of total consensus that characterizes these events.
Brigadier General Oscar A. Callejas Varcalce, head of the Political Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior, was also added
The third person to fill the vacancies generated by the internal cadre movement was Magda Resik Aguirre, First Vice-President of UNEAC. A frequent face on official television, the presenter and screenwriter has called the population’s weariness that manifests itself in social networks as a work of “the enemies of the Revolution,” who “make every effort to offer a theoretical platform for the disenchantment and delegitimization of socialism.”
Chaired by Miguel Díaz-Canel, first secretary of the Party and president of the Republic, the plenary began with appeals to unity and denunciations of the US embargo, in an attempt to justify the economic and social paralysis that is choking millions of Cubans.
The “vitally important” event began without the presence of Raúl Castro Ruz
Despite the fact that the event was classified as “of vital importance,” it began without the presence of Raúl Castro Ruz. His absence from such meetings has become increasingly frequent. Nor did he attend the previous plenary session held in December, although he was present on June 6 for the promotion of the main figures of the Ministry of the Interior.
Beyond the political theater, the incorporation of two high-ranking military officers into the party leadership structure shows a clear trend: the regime is facing the crisis by closing ranks rather than giving signs of political reform. Far from renewing ideas, they insist on shielding positions. Faced with economic collapse and the erosion of ideological control, the leadership is betting on military discipline as a guarantee of internal stability.
The leadership is betting on military discipline
Despite the symbolic references to Fidel Castro and the patriotic dates of the revolutionary calendar, this Plenary resembles more a declaration of political survival than a strategy for the future. Raúl Castro’s absence does not mark the end of an era, but the advance of a direction increasingly disconnected from the real country, locked in its epic narrative while the people face endless lines, blackouts, uncontrolled inflation and deep despair.
The Communist Party of Cuba, far from being a “compass and force,” as proclaimed by Organization Secretary Roberto Morales Ojeda, remains a wall. And this X Plenary is confirming it.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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