The Weighty Legacy of ‘Furry’

The Weighty Legacy of 'Furry' / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar
Posted on October 31, 2015

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 27 October 2015 — Every Cuban has a
minister in charge of his or her affairs, but the Ministry of the
Interior is responsible for everyone. This is the reason why, when
someone says "The Ministry" everyone understands that they are speaking
about MININT, the Ministry of the Interior, that macro entity that
controls, among other things, immigration, firefighters, border guard
troops, identity card offices, the police, and that colossal apparatus
generically known as "the organs of State Security."

Abelardo Colome Ibarra was, since 1989 and until yesterday, the
all-powerful minister of the interior. His long record of service began
30 November 1956, when he joined the revolutionaries who took the city
of Santiago de Cuba to support the landing of the Granma expedition. He
ended the war against Batista with the rank of commander, not yet having
reached age 20, and has since been the confidant of the Ciuban
Government (especially of Raul Castro, having been head of his
bodyguard) which has entrusted him with missions such as head of the
State Security, directing the police, or commanding the war in Angola.

Furry, as his close associates call him, until this Monday was one of
the seven living and still active men appearing on the list – almost
never disaggregated – of the so-called "Historic Generation" of the
Cuban Revolution. His role as a founder of the first Central Committee
of the Communist Party and of the National Assembly of People's Power,
plus his being named as a "Hero of the Republic of Cuba," support the
merits that have allowed him to do something unusual: resign his
position and receive a tribute.

Some years ago a rumor circulated about his declining state of health,
but he continued to be one of the makers of government policy, and this
also makes him responsible for the shadiest events, such as the sinking
of the 13 de Marzo tugboat in July of 1994, the downing of the Brothers
to the Rescue planes in February of 1996, the arrests of 75 regime
opponents in the spring of 2003, and the frequently denounced horrible
conditions in Cuban prisons. Under Furry's mandate the activist Orlando
Zapata Tamayo died, at the beginning of 2010, after a prolonged hunger
strike during which it is alleged his jailers denied him water.

Who doesn't know that it is almost impossible to organize a repudiation
rally without the consent of State Security? Whenever Sunday operations
are carried out in various provinces to suppress the Ladies in White, in
the end there is a report that ends up on the minister's desk. Behind
every one of these brief and arbitrary detentions, beatings, assaults on
the homes of regime opponents, searches and seizures, has been MININT
and Furry.

During all the years of the humiliating "exit permits" that were
required to leave the country, the lists of who could leave and who
could not were drawn up in that institution. In the same way, from these
offices were issued – and are still issued – the refusals to allow a
Cuban abroad to return to his or her country, even for a visit.

According to insiders, Colome Ibarra had been spending less and less
time in his office while the work was carried out by the vice-minister,
Carlos Fernandez Gondin, also a member of the Cuban Communist Party
Central Committee and a deputy to the National Assembly. Fernandez
Gondin's appointment as the new minister has not been a surprise,
although it put to rests rumors that insinuated that Alejandro Castro
Espin, Raul Castro's son, would be promoted to the job.

Within six months Fernandez Gondin will probably be promoted to the
Politburo as a part of the renewal that is expected with the upcoming
7th Congress of the PCC. His face rarely appears in the media and he has
a reputation as a loyal and inflexible person. In a few years, when
there is no one from the Historic Generation making decisions, he will
be surrounded by people to whom he does not owe obedience and whom he
will know a lot about because he will have read secret reports on every
one of them. This could be interpreted as bad news for the future of Cuba.

Source: The Weighty Legacy of 'Furry' / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar |
Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/the-weighty-legacy-of-furry-14ymedio-reinaldo-escobar/