Cuba military's new mission: rallying nation behind Castro

HAVANA (AP) Having sworn off missions to spread revolution abroad, Cuba's military is undertaking a new mission at home: drumming up support for the communist regime during hard times.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces, probably Cuba's most powerful institution, has dropped its habitual secrecy to try to rally the nation amid economic crisis exerting itself to evoke pride in past revolutionary glory, befriend the public and wave the flag for Fidel Castro.

The military has played a larger role in Cuba's economy ever since 1989, starting army-run farms, businesses and construction brigades after the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe cut off crucial military aid and training.

Now it seems to be playing a larger political role as well. "The military is basically showing that it is behind the government," said Wayne Smith, a Washington academic and former chief U.S. diplomat in Havana. "While it is considered an important force for reform, it is loyal to Castro and will not break ranks."

Earlier this month, four army generals in olive uniforms strode onto a stage in Havana to speak to 1,000 young foreigners about life as soldiers for communism, loyalty to Castro, and love of the revolutionary martyr Che Guevara.

While little of what the generals told the communist-sponsored international youth festival was all that extraordinary, it was surprising that they were telling outsiders anything at all.

In addition, military officers for the first time are giving government-approved interviews to Cuban journalists for books and magazine articles, mostly about the country's revolutionary past.

Most notable was this year's "Secrets of Generals," a collection of interviews with 41 of the nation's military leaders.

Despite the title, the book revealed no military secrets just a rare glimpse of the backgrounds of the men who fought alongside the Castro brothers to overthrow dictator Fulgencia Batista nearly four decades ago.

The book's overriding theme: loyalty to the Castros and Cuba's Communist Party.

Army Gen. Harry Villegas, a member of the party's ruling politburo, delivered much the same message in two recent books about fighting alongside Guevara, who was killed by Bolivian troops in 1967 while trying to export Cuba's revolution.

In 1992, Castro announced that Cuba would no longer provide military help to insurgent groups or governments abroad.

At the time, the military was bruised by a 1989 drug-trafficking scandal that led to the execution of a war hero, Major Gen. Arnaldo Ochoa, and three others. Several top military leaders defected.

In 1990, the collapse of the Soviet Union brought lasting economic hardship, and troop strength was cut from an estimated 180,000 roughly the size of the military of much-larger Mexico.

With the country still suffering from the Soviet breakup, the military has assumed a larger role in the economy, moving manpower into harvesting sugar and other important crops.

In another sign of its rising profile, the armed forces staged their first sizable military parade in a decade in December. With Castro and other heroes of the 1959 revolution looking on, veterans of the uprising marched past in Revolution Plaza.

So far, Cubans seem to appreciate the new, open military. "There is a new policy to tell people about what happened over all those years," said Teresa, an electrical engineer in Havana, who refused to give her last name. "Before, those military leaders never appeared or spoke in public, except during political acts."

"The military is opening things up, and the people like it," she said.

With Cubans grumbling more and more about the struggle to feed their family, it was less clear if the appreciation would extent to Castro's regime as well.

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