The Cuban regime's objective in announcing military deaths is to foment terror. Following the deaths of six Cuban military personnel in less than two weeks, a political analyst said that such events show that there are "fissures" within the Castro regime and that the public announcements of such deaths are aimed at promoting terror on the part of the dictatorship.
Cuban political scientist Julio M. Shiling said that "it is no coincidence" that since the popular uprising that began on July 11, six generals from the Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior have died.
"This is becoming more and more like an Agatha Christie novel," Shiling told The Epoch Times. "It's no coincidence all these numbers of people dead and the disappearance of any physical evidence of their bodies."
Within a 10-day period, the Cuban regime has announced the death of military officer Gilberto Cardero on July 28. Before him, the head of the Eastern Army, Agustin Peña, and brigadier generals Marcelo Verdecia, Ruben Martinez, Manuel Lastres and Armando Choy died. In none of the six cases were the causes of death disclosed, and all the bodies were cremated.
"When Castro-communism takes these measures, it is quite predictable to conclude that there was some reference to protest or some exclamation of disapproval. It does not necessarily mean that any of these deceased generals were actively conspiring or intended to do so - simply that any mild proclamation or pronouncement of discontent, the Castro regime will quickly eliminate so that it does not have a 'contagion effect' on others," he added.
The expert said that such deaths, in a way, are "hopeful" because it means that "there are serious fissures within the power structure of Castro-communism".
Shiling explained that the design of the Cuban communist state operates under Lenin's concept of democratic centralism, which teaches that a monolithic posture is necessary for dictatorial success.
"That is, once a position is taken, there can be no dissent, there can be no discrepancy, there can be no deviation. And any slight demonstration contrary to that stance, is enough-for that level of person who wields influence over the armed forces-to annihilate it."
The political scientist pointed out that Cuba has 3 Armed Forces-the western, central, and eastern army-to prevent a centralized army against political power; and to prevent the armed forces from staging a coup d'état, the Cuban regime involves them in the Cuban economy.
"Seventy percent of the economy in Cuba is in the hands of military institutions by companies that are under the direction of the upper echelons of the Armed Forces."
Shiling said, moreover, that there could be other cases of individuals-perhaps colonels, captains-with lower ranks who are disobeying in some way or another certain orders in the event of an uprising by the Cuban people.
On the other hand, the fact that the Castro regime publicly communicates the deaths of such officers, Shiling noted, is also intended to foment terror.
"Many times dictatorial regimes seek and deal with the lesser evil," he noted. "They understand well that the worst enemy is spontaneity and the concertation of opposing forces that could confront them, including forces that could come from within their own power structure. So, terror is the most fundamental medicine to face this," he added.
"They know that a moderately objective person is clearly going to feel that there is something strange about these deaths, but they don't care about that. They do it precisely with the idea of promoting terror so that other people who may be in positions to have men or weapons at their disposal," he said. "The idea is clearly to promote terror."
However, he said that even so, mass demonstrations on the island will continue in the fight against the communist dictatorship.
"We are seeing that this is a process that has reached a point of no return. When you have thousands and thousands of people who grew up in the midst of communism and never knew freedom, but who had the awareness and the courage to take to the streets and risk everything to proclaim a clear message of 'Freedom' and 'Down with communism'; then this sense of empowerment for the youth shows that there will be no turning back."
"In this case, despite all the sophistication of communism's terror machine, it failed. It could not prevent all this," he said.
Likewise, Shiling warned that the cause of freedom in Cuba is the same cause of freedom in Latin America.
"Communist Cuba became the command center of socialism in the continent. So the liberation of Cuba is tantamount to the end of socialist subversion in the entire Western Hemisphere," he said.
Author: Patricia Valencia, reporter for @EpochTimesEs. Follow Pachi on Twitter: @pachivalencia. With information from The Epoch Times reporter Alicia Márquez.
