Communist Party of Cuba
The Communist Party of Cuba is the ruling political party in the Republic of Cuba. It is a communist party of the Marxist–Leninist model. The Cuban constitution ascribes the role of the party to be the "leading force of society and of the state". Since April 2011, the First Secretary of the Central Committee has been Raúl Castro, younger brother of the previous First Secretary Fidel Castro, who died on 25 November 2016. The Second Secretary has been José Ramón Machado Ventura.
History
Cuba had a number of communist and anarchist organizations from the early period of the Republic. The original "internationalised" Communist Party of Cuba formed in the 1920s. In 1944, it renamed itself as the Popular Socialist Party for electoral reasons. In July 1961, two years after the successful overthrow of Fulgencio Batista and the creation of a revolutionary government, the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations was formed from the merger of:- Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement
- The Popular Socialist Party led by Blas Roca
- The student-based Revolutionary Directory led by Faure Chomón
For the first fifteen years of its formal existence, the Communist Party was almost completely inactive outside of the Politburo. The 100 person Central Committee rarely met and it was ten years after its founding that the first regular party Congress was held. In 1969, membership of the party was only 55,000 or 0.7% of the population, making the PCC the smallest ruling communist party in the world. In the 1970s, the party's apparatus began to develop. By the time of the first party Congress in 1975, the party had grown to just over two hundred thousand members, the Central Committee was meeting regularly and provided the organizational apparatus giving the party the leading role in society that ruling Communist parties generally hold. By 1980, the party had grown to over 430,000 members and it grew further to 520,000 by 1985. Apparatuses of the party had grown to ensure that its leading cadres were appointed to key government positions.
Congresses
The Communist Party of Cuba held its first party Congress in 1975 and has had additional congresses in 1980, 1986, 1991, 1997 and 2011. The Seventh Congress took place from 19 April to 22 April 2016, around the 55th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs Invasion, concluding with remarks by Fidel Castro.The Eighth Congress is scheduled to take place 16 to 19 April 2021.
Central Committee
See also:The leading bodies of the party were the Politburo and the Secretariat until 1991 when the two bodies were merged into an expanded Politburo with over twenty members. However, the Secretariat was re-introduced in 2002. There is also a Central Committee which meets between party congresses. At the Fifth Congress, the size of the Central Committee was reduced to 150 members from the previous membership of 225. Fidel Castro was the party's First Secretary since its inception while Raúl Castro was the Second Secretary. Upon Fidel Castro's 2008 resignation from the party and Cuban government, Raúl Castro became First Secretary.
Politburo
The 7th Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba was elected by the Central Committee on 19 April 2016 following the 7th Congress.| Rank | Name | Member since | Duration | Party position | State position |
| 1 | Raúl Castro Ruz | 3 October 1965 | |||
| 2 | José Ramón Machado Ventura | 3 October 1965 |
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| 5 | Miguel Díaz-Canel | 10 October 1997 |
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| 4 | Esteban Lazo Hernandez | 7 February 1986 |
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| 3 | Ramiro Valdés Menéndez | 3 October 1965 |
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| 6 | Leopoldo Cintra Frías | 14 October 1991 | |||
| 7 | Alvaro Lopez Miera | 10 October 1997 | |||
| 8 | Ramón Espinosa Martín | 10 October 1997 | |||
| 9 | Lázara Mercedes López Acea | 19 April 2011 |
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| 10 | Salvador Valdés Mesa | 10 October 1997 | |||
| 11 | Marino Alberto Murillo Jorge | 19 April 2011 |
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| 12 | Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla | 11 December 2012 | |||
| 13 | Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento | 19 April 2016 |
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| 14 | Roberto Morales Ojeda | 19 April 2016 | |||
| 15 | Teresa Amarelle Boué | 19 April 2016 | |||
| 16 | Miriam Nicado García | 19 April 2016 |
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| 17 | Marta Ayala Ávila | 19 April 2016 |
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Secretariat
The 6th Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba was elected by the Central Committee on 19 April 2011 following the 6th Congress.| Rank | Name | Member since | Duration | Party position | State position |
| 1 | José Ramón Machado Ventura | 1 July 2006 |
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| 2 | Abelardo Álbarez Gil | 1 July 2006 |
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| 3 | Olga Lidia Tapia Iglesias | 1 July 2006 | |||
| 4 | Víctor Fidel Gaute López | 1 July 2006 | |||
| 5 | José Ramón Balaguer Cabrera | 19 April 2011 |
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| 6 | Omar Fernando Ruiz Martín | 17 May 2013 | |||
| 7 | Jorge Cuevas Ramos | 5 July 2013 |
Youth
The Communist Party of Cuba has a youth wing, the Young Communist League which is a member organization of the World Federation of Democratic Youth. It also has a children's group, the José Martí Pioneer Organization.Ideology
Compared with other ruling Communist Parties, such as in Vietnam, China, and Laos, the Communist Party of Cuba retains a stricter adherence to the tradition of Marxism–Leninism and the traditional Soviet model. The party has been more reluctant in engaging in market reforms, though it has been forced to accept some market measures in its economy due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the resultant loss of economic subsidies. The Communist Party of Cuba has often pursued an interventionist foreign policy, actively assisting left-wing revolutionary movements and governments abroad, including the ELN in Colombia, the FMLN in El Salvador, the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, and Maurice Bishop's New Jewel Movement in Grenada. The party’s most significant international role was in the civil war in Angola, where Cuba directed a joint Angolan/Soviet/Cuban force in the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale. More recently, the party has sought to support Pink Tide leaders across Latin America, such as Hugo Chávez and later Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and Evo Morales in Bolivia.Medical diplomacy has also been a prominent feature of the Party’s foreign policy. The party maintains a policy of sending thousands of Cuban doctors, agricultural technicians, and other professionals to other countries throughout the developing world. Some observers have criticized these medical missions for being used for political purposes, such as in the case of Venezuela.
Raúl Castro is campaigning to "renew" Cuba's socialist economy through incorporating new exchange and distribution systems that have been traditionally seen as "market" oriented. This has led to some speculation that Cuba may transition towards a model more similar to that of China and Vietnam.