Cuba moves swiftly to appoint new Interior minister

Cuba has tapped a navy officer, Vice Admiral Julio César Gandarilla Bermejo, as Minister of the Interior, following the death on Jan. 7 of Gen. Carlos Fernández Gondín, who had held the post since October 2015.

The Council of State made the announcement on Monday (Jan. 9), saying that the appointment was made “at the proposal of President Raúl Castro.”

The Ministry of the Interior (MININT) oversees the Cuban police, the State Security apparatus, domestic counterintelligence, and the Coast Guard among other tasks.

Gandarilla, a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and a deputy to the National Assembly, was chief of military counterintelligence for 16 years and First Vice Minister of the Interior, a post he assumed in October 2015.

He reportedly is a veteran of the war in Angola (late 1970s and early ’80s.) The two-paragraph official note about his promotion does not provide his age or other personal information, but he is believed to be in his 70s.

Previous Interior ministers are Army generals Ramiro Valdés Menéndez (1961-68 and 1979-85), Sergio del Valle Jiménez (1968-1979), José Abrantes Fernández (1985-89), Abelardo Colomé Ibarra (1989-2015) and Fernández Gondín (2015-17).

Gandarilla’s public appearance as spokesman for the Interior Ministry first drew attention on June 6 of last year, when he addressed a ceremony in Havana marking the 55th anniversary of the MININT. Fernández Gondín was not present at the gathering, an absence that suggested to some that he might be in ill health.

According to the official obituary, Gondín died at age 78 from “complications of a chronic illness.”

[Photo at top shows Gandarilla speaking at 55th anniversary of the MININT, on June 6, 2016.]