HAVANA, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Cuban Sugar Minister Nelson Torres, who has presided over a continuing crisis in the country's sugar sector over the last four years, was replaced on Friday by army general Ulises Rosales del Toro.
State television announced the change, saying Torres had been ``relieved of his duties'' and naming his successor, but giving no details or reasons for the switch.
However, there had been speculation in recent weeks that Torres might be dismissed from his post. Torres was dropped from the ruling Communist Party's Politburo at the party's Fifth Congress, which ended on Oct. 10.
The congress was closed to the foreign media. But some Cuban sources said that during the three-day meeting, Torres was sharply criticized by vice-president and Defence Minister Raul Castro.
Rosales del Toro, a member of the Politburo, is chief of staff of the armed forces and was until now first deputy defence minister.
His appointment, which was unexpected, appeared to signal that Cuba's leadership believes a military hand is needed to boost the sugar sector, the island's leading industry and main export.
During the party congress, there was considerable praise for efforts by the armed forces to boost effiency, for example in the results of its youth work army.
Torres was appointed to head the Sugar Ministry in 1993 at a time when the sector was heading into deep decline along with the rest of the economy after the collapse of Cuba's old political and economic ally the former Soviet Union.
The sugar sector, traditionally the backbone of the economy and an employer of more than one tenth of the workforce, was badly hit by a lack of supplies ranging from tractor parts to fertilizers.
In recent years, sugar has been overtaken by tourism in terms of gross foreign exchange earnings.
Production slumped to 3.3 million tonnes, the lowest for 50 years, in the 1994-95 harvest. It picked up to 4.45 million tonnes in 1995-96. But the recovery faltered this year, with a harvest estimated at about 4.2 million tonnes.
Authorities have given no forecast for the forthcoming harvest, which starts next month. But some foreign analysts have forecast production of 4.0 million to 4.2 million tonnes.
Such figures compare with production that was more than seven million tonnes a year during the 1980s.
Authorities have blamed a series of factors for the failure to achieve the hoped for continued recovery in the 1996-97 harvest, including difficulty obtaining foreign financing and also the effects of a hurricane that hit the island in October last year just before the harvest began, damaging some cane.
22:19 10-24-97