Cuban President Raul Castro replaced several members of his Cabinet on Monday, putting his stamp on the government a year after assuming power from his older brother Fidel.
In a sign that he is emerging from the shadow of the former president and revolutionary icon, Raul Castro, 77, fired foreign minister Felipe Perez Roque and moved Cabinet chief Carlos Lage, two long-time lieutenants in the previous administration.
In making his first major Cabinet shuffle since assuming power one year ago, the Cuban leader cited the need for greater efficiency and a consolidation of the country’s unwieldy bureaucracy, saying the shakeup would lead to “a more compact and functional structure.”
The move most notably replaces 44-year-old Perez Roque, Havana’s chief diplomat since 1999, with Bruno Rodriguez, a former journalist for the state-run press and ambassador to the UN.
Perez Roque was seen as close to Fidel, acting as his chief of staff for a decade.
Lage, 57, retains his post as one of Cuba’s vice presidents of the Council of State, but has been replaced by General Jose Amado Ricardo Guerra as Cabinet chief.
Both Lage and Perez Roque had been seen as possible successors to Fidel Castro before the aging leader passed the reins of power to his brother.
The shuffle affects about 10 Cabinet positions, including the commerce, farming, fishing and interior ministries.
Meanwhile, residents of the exclusive Siboney neighborhood on the outskirts of Havana say Fidel Castro was spotted out for a walk wearing shorts, white socks pulled up high and a track jacket.
He moved slowly, shuffling along while looking down at his feet, they said, and he was ringed by security guards and trailed by a dark Mercedes-Benz sedan.
Some of the Havana residents who said they had spotted Fidel Castro insisted that their names, gender, and even the exact day when they saw him not be published to avoid running afoul of the government, which has declared Castro’s illness a state secret.
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