Cuba announced Mar. 6 that Culture Minister Abel Prieto will be replaced by his first vice-minister, Rafael Bernal Alemany, who has worked with Prieto for the last 15 years. Prieto, meanwhile, will become an advisor to President Raúl Castro.

That means the long-haired politician is joining Raúl’s inner circle, which already consists of Marino Murillo (minister of economics); Leopoldo Cintra Frías (minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces); Gladys Bejerano (general comptroller) and Luís A. Rodríguez López-Callejas (CEO of GAESA, the holding company for the Cuban Ministry of Defense).

Abel Prieto, 61, is without a doubt one of the most popular leaders in Cuba — especially among intellectuals, artists, scientists and large segments of the political class. With his typical ‘60s hippie look, he was always known as an open-minded, straightforward man who was not afraid to speak his mind.

Generally regarded as a minor expert in literature by bureaucrats in the Ministry of Education, Prieto reluctantly joined the all-powerful Politburo in the early 1990s. But he never showed any particular interest in positions or titles. His eventual resignation from the Politburo was accepted during last year’s Sixth Party Congress, where Prieto insisted on dropping his ministerial post at some later date.

Yet being chosen by Raúl as his advisor is a clear indication of how much the old leaders value Prieto.

A lifelong fan of the Beatles, Prieto pushed for the construction of John Lennon’s statue in Havana’s Vedado district, in a park where many young people used to hang out. He persuaded Fidel Castro to attend the statue’s inauguration, where Prieto and his friends sang “Imagine” — and then listened to Fidel apologize for not having correctly understood the Beatles’ contribution to the world.

Years later, in 1993, when Fidel starting blasting away at the many artists and intellectuals who were “betraying” their country, Prieto interrupted the old comandante to disagree. It takes a special kind of courage to do this, and everyone saw it.

Prieto, who along with Fidel spent many hours in a meeting last month discussing current events with 100 or so intellectuals from Latin America, Europe and the Caribbean, is also responsible for promoting a wide range of debates, discussions and publications. 

In other recent government appointments:

• Vice President José R. Fernández, 88, was replaced by Politburo member Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, 51. Fernández has been a key military and political leader for more than 50 years. He’ll continue to work with Raúl Castro as a personal advisor.

Díaz-Canel, formerly minister of higher education, has been characterized as a “rising star” among the younger generation. He’s been repeatedly praised by Raúl for his excellent performance as a Communist Party leader in Villa Clara and Holguín over the last 20 years. Díaz-Canel is being replaced as minister of higher education by his first vice-minister, Rodolfo Alarcón Ortíz.
• Dr. José Miyar Barrueco, 79, is stepping down as minister of science, technology and the environment. He’s being replaced by Elba Rosa Pérez Montoya, who is in her early 50s and has most recently headed the science department of the Party’s Central Committee.

Miyar, for many years Fidel Castro’s personal assistant, secretary of the Council of State and a member of that body, will now be in charge of OSDE (Organización Superior de Dirección Empresarial), which oversees R&D, production and marketing for Cuba’s biotech and pharmaceutical industry.

• Army Corps Gen. (ACG) Leonardo Andollo has been appointed first vice-chairman of the Comisión Permanente de Implementación y Desarrollo, next in line to Murillo. Andollo, 67, joined the revolution as a teenager. In 1989, when he was only 44, he was promoted to brigadier-general — the youngest in Cuba. A member of the Central Committee since 1986, he is a key figure in FAR’s economic activities and the implementation of Perfectamiento Empresarial.

• ACG Samuel Rodiles Planas, 80 and one of the oldest generals still on active duty, has been named chairman of the Institute of Physical Planning. His mission: to reorganize and regulate Cuba’s construction industry by individuals, state entites and foreign investors.

Second-in-command of the Western Army in the early 1990s and then in charge of the Defense and Security Committee of Cuba’s National Assembly and Inspector Chief of the General Staff, this aging veteran has been on the Central Committee since 1965 and a member of the National Assembly since 1992.