Chronicle on Cuba - February 2008

Security

February 2: The Angolan Ministry of Home Affairs and the Cuban Ministry of Interior signed in Luanda a cooperation agreement on security and public order. The accord was signed by the Angolan Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Angelo Viegas Tavares, and his Cuban counterpart, José Mian Pino. The agreement has seven points linked to study programmes in different specialities, evaluation of teachers, a chronogram of the courses, as well as training, preparation of staff and technical assistance. (ANGOP, 3/2/08)

February 26: Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) commemorated the 90th anniversary of the Red Army that defeated fascism in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1945. We send our deepest affection to our brothers-in-arms, said Vice Admiral Pedro Perez, chief of the Revolutionary Navy, at the main event to commemorate the Red Army’s anniversary in Havana. Perez said Cubans feel proud of the solidarity and assistance the then Soviet Union granted to the Cuban Revolution. General Alvaro Lopez Miera, deputy chief of the Chiefs of Staff of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Ambassadors Andrei Dimitriev (Russia) and Igor Paluyan (Belarus), and Kazakhstan’s business attaché, Beisenbek Diusenbayev, attended the event. (Prensa Latina, 26/2/08)

February 29: Cuban President Raul Castro led a meeting of the Western Army Military Council, in which he highlighted the work carried out by the military in 2007. In the meeting, it was reiterated that the mobilization of Army reservists and militiamen, known as "Operacion Caguairan", will continue for the time being, with the aim of developing their military abilities. The importance of enlisting women in the defense of the country, especially through the female voluntary military service, was also stressed. During the meeting, Raul Castro read a message from the leader of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro, who congratulated General Julio Casas Regueiro for his promotion to Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR). "I think the enemy has not managed to entangle us thanks to Raul Castro's wise and serene speech," Fidel Castro noted in that text. On behalf of the Military Council, Western Army chief Lieutenant General Leopoldo Cintra, praised Raul Castro´s work as FAR minister for almost five decades. (Prensa Latina, 2/3/08)