In March 2009, President

Raúl Castro Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz (; ; born 3 June 1931) is a retired Cuban politician and general who served as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, the most senior position in the one-party communist state, from 2011 to 2021, succeedi ...

of Cuba dismissed numerous government ministers.

Officials

* Foreign Minister

Felipe Pérez Roque Felipe Ramón Pérez Roque (born 28 March 1965) was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba from 1999 to 2009. At his appointment, he was not only the youngest member of the Cuban cabinet but also the only one to be born after the Cuban Revoluti ...

was dismissed on 2 March 2009. Fidel Castro then criticized him for love of power in a statement on 3 March, and Pérez Roque announced his resignation from all his party and state positions—membership on the Communist Party's Central Committee and Political Bureau, membership on the Council of State, and his role as a parliamentary deputy—in a letter published on 5 March. In that letter, he also accepted Castro's criticism and agreed that he had committed errors. He was replaced by Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla. * Secretary of Council of Ministers

Carlos Lage Dávila Carlos Aurelio Lage Dávila (born 15 October 1951) is a Cuban politician. Until 2009, he was a Vice President of the Council of State of Cuba, a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Cuba, and Executive Secretary of the Council of Min ...

was replaced by Brig. Gen.

José Amado Ricardo Guerra José Amado Ricardo Guerra is the Secretary of Council of Ministers in Cuba. He was appointed as part of the 2009 shake-up by Raúl Castro Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz (; ; born 3 June 1931) is a retired Cuban politician and general who served ...

. Following Fidel Castro's statement of 3 March, Lage announced his resignation from all his party and state positions—membership on the Communist Party's Central Committee and Political Bureau, membership on the Council of State, and his role as a parliamentary deputy—in a letter published on 5 March. In that letter, he also accepted Castro's criticism and agreed that he had committed errors. * José Luis Rodríguez García, the economy minister. He was replaced by Marino Murillo Jorge. *

Raúl de la Nuez Raul, Raúl and Raül are the Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan forms of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph. They are cognates of the French Raoul. Raul, Raúl or Raül may re ...

, the foreign trade minister. He was replaced by

Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz (born October 14, 1956 in Havana) is a Cuban diplomat and politician. Malmierca is the Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment (2009–present) as a result of the 2009 shake-up by Raúl Castro. He was the ...

, then foreign investment minister. Both ministries merged. *

Georgina Barreiro Fajardo Georgina may refer to: Names *Georgina (name), a feminine given name Places Australia * Georgina, Queensland, a locality in the Shire of Boulia, Queensland * Georgina Basin, a large sedimentary basin in Australia * Georgina River, a river ...

, the finance minister. Replaced by Lina Pedraza Rodríguez. * Alfredo Morales Cartaya, the labour minister was replaced by Margarita Marlene González Fernández. * Internal Commerce Minister Murillo Jorge was replaced by Jacinto Angulo Pardo. * Government Vice President

Otto Rivero Torres Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', ''Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded fro ...

was replaced by

Ramiro Valdés Menéndez Ramiro Valdés Menéndez (born 28 April 1932) is a Cuban politician. He became a Government Vice President in the 2009 shake-up by Raúl Castro. Biography A veteran of the Cuban Revolution, Valdés fought alongside Fidel Castro at the attack on ...

. * Food Minister Alejandro Roca Iglesias and Fishing Minister

Alfredo López Valdés Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxon name Alfred and a common Italian, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name. People with the given name include: *Alfredo (born 1946), Brazilian footballer born as Alfredo Mostarda Filho ...

were replaced by

María del Carmen Concepción González María del Carmen Concepción González (born 15 September 1957) is a Cuban politician and the Cuban Minister of Food Industries (2009–present). She was appointed as a result of the 2009 shake-up by Raúl Castro. She is a Deputy to the Nationa ...

. * Education Minister

Juan Vela Valdés ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

was replaced by

Miguel Díaz-Canel Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel y Bermúdez (; born 20 April 1960) also known as MADCB, is a politician and engineer who is the third first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba. Díaz-Canel succeeds the brothers Fidel and Raúl Castro, making ...

. * Heavy Industries Minister Fernando Acosta Santana was replaced by

Salvador Pardo Cruz Brigade General Salvador Pardo Cruz is a Cuban politician and the Cuban Minister of Heavy Industries (2009–present), replacing Fernando Acosta Santana after the 2009 shake-up by Raúl Castro. Early life He is a radiotechnical engineer. He h ...

Theories

Economic reforms

In an article "Purge Aims to Halt Cuba's Economic Free Fall", written by Frances Robles and Wilfredo Cancio and published in the ''

Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a List of communities in Miami-Dade County, Florida, city in western Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County and the M ...

'' in March 2009, the authors suggested that the purge was to get rid of the people who may have stood in the way of economic reforms.

Hugo Chávez

Former Mexican foreign minister

Jorge Castañeda Gutman Jorge Castañeda Gutman (born May 24, 1953) is a Mexican politician and academic who served as Secretary of Foreign Affairs (2000–2003). He also authored more than a dozen books, including a biography of Che Guevara, and he regularly con ...

, in his ''Newsweek'' article published in the March 23, 2009 issue, suggested that

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republ ...

was plotting a coup in Cuba due to concerns that Raul Castro would make concessions that would betray the 50-year-old Cuban Revolution. However, "long-time Cuba watchers expressed skepticism" about this claim. According to his thesis, Hugo Chávez asked Leonel Fernández of the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

to support the plot, but he declined. Castañeda's statements have been met with scepticism from politicians and scholars. He has admitted that he has no proof, calling his thesis "informed speculation".

References

{{reflist Politics of Cuba 2009 in Cuba