On Friday, the regime also announced the dismissal of Manuel René Pérez Gallego in Las Tunas after 19 years in office
14ymedio, Havana, April 21, 2024 — The Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) dismissed Ernesto Santiesteban Velázquez this Saturday as first secretary in the province of Holguín, the second dismissal of this type in the week and the seventh so far this year. The position will be held by Joel Queipo Ruiz who, according to the PCC, “has maintained a link with the province in complex moments such as COVID-19.”
Queipo Ruiz, 52, served as a member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Party and head of its Productive Economic Department. The regime highlights his 28 years of experience in political direction, “initially in the Union of Young Communists (UJC) where he came to serve as first secretary of the provincial committee in Havana and as a member of the National Bureau to attend to the ideological sphere.” In addition, he is a deputy of the National Assembly of People’s Power and states that he has a master’s degree in nuclear physics.
Queipo Ruiz served as a member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Party and head of its Productive Economic Department
About Santiesteban Velázquez, who took office on June 26, 2018, it was said only that “he will be assigned other responsibilities in the auxiliary structure of the Central Committee,” without specifying what they will be.
The dismissal of Velázquez, which the regime proclaims as the “integral strategy for the policy of cadres,” is in addition to those carried out in recent weeks in Havana, Matanzas, Santiago de Cuba, Cienfuegos and Ciego de Ávila.
Last Friday, the first secretary of the PCC in the province of Las Tunas, Manuel René Pérez Gallego, was also dismissed after 19 years in office. His place was occupied by Walter Simón Noris, who was a member of the PCC executive bureau in Camagüey.
At the beginning of April, the first secretary of Mantua, in Pinar del Río, Liusmara Rodríguez Soriano, was dismissed. A source told 14ymedio that this was a result of the official’s poor management in the territory.
Last Friday, the first secretary of the PCC in the province of Las Tunas, Manuel René Pérez Gallego, was also dismissed after 19 years in office
“He made a lot of mistakes. There have been more homes affected by floods and cyclones in recent years in the municipality. There are still people who have been asking for materials and help to repair their little house for ten years and more,” said the source from Pinar del Río. In addition, “he gave power to people who used cement and roofs as if this were a private farm.”
Last February, three ministers were dismissed, one of them – the former head of Economy and former deputy prime minister Alejandro Gil – who is under investigation for an alleged crime of corruption, as announced a month later.
Likewise, in recent weeks, the president of the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP), a trade union organization in the orbit of the PCC, was also replaced.
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
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.
