Five Cuban generals dead in recent days – is the Covid spike to blame?


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Nino raised the below occurence earlier in the week on the "Best wishes to the people of Cuba thread".  This is the first major piece I have seen in mainstream media. 

 

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/28/cuba-generals-deaths-covid-19-coronavirus

Five Cuban generals dead in recent days – is the Covid spike to blame?

Observers fear pandemic could be responsible for deaths, adding intrigue to freedom protests taking place in Cuba and US

 

Five mostly elderly and retired Cuban military generals have died in recent days in mysterious circumstances, the country’s communist regime has confirmed, adding intrigue to a new round of freedom protests taking place in the island and US.

 

Continued

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Six now as Gilberto Antonio Cardero Sánchez was reported dead yesterday.  The Generals are all quite elderly, and it's certainly conceivable that they succumbed to COVID, however if 6 random Generals died spread that far across Cuba it also means that their R number is out of control and there are thousands, if not tens of thousands of Cubans dying each week.

If that many Cubans were dying from Covid each day, or week, I feel like we would be hearing about bodies stacked in neighborhoods.

It seems more likely they're either leaving, or being targeted.

Either way I put the over / under on dead Generals at 11. 

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It's definitely not Covid. Bad things happen for other reasons.

Guys at this level of the military aren't out mingling with the public. They get the best medicine, food, housing, etc. First access to the vaccine. Lets try an put two brain cells together here and be logical about this. They're either being offed, or finding ways to sneak out.

Mexico makes the most sense, maybe Obrador is sending that aid as an apology? There are still regular, but infrequent flights between the two countries, but these guys would have to sneak through Cuban passport control to get on a commercial flight. That would throw up huge red flags. 

I'm still think they're being offed. The last couple guys were in the Sierra Mestra with Fidel 60 years ago. They knew how to "revolution" better than anyone in the country. These protests could have opened the door to another revolution, there is a clear appetite for it. 

Lets call a Spade a Spade. These guys where potential threats to Raul, Diaz-Canel, or both. They aren't anymore. Why does it have to be more complicated than that? 

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It means either one or two things...the newer reformers are killing off the old revolutionary communists to make way for much needed change, or the military is being purged in order for the government to consolidate more power and continue the oppression of the Cuban people. 

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Let's apply some common sense here - the guys were old .... cannot see them fleeing the country. A purge is more likely

But most likely they just trusted the Cuban vaccine and got it but it failed.

Just read this piece : More than 50% of the Covid cases in Cuba had been vaccinated with the Cuban vaccine ... makes sense.

En Cuba, los vacunados son más del 50% de los contagiados, muy por encima del promedio mundial

Un experto baraja la hipótesis de que "las vacunas nacionales contra el covid no sean efectivas frente a las nuevas variantes"

https://www.14ymedio.com/cienciaytecnologia/Cuba-vacunados-contagiados_0_3139486027.html

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3 hours ago, Corylax18 said:

It's definitely not Covid.

With respect, while a purge is certainly a strong possibility neither you nor I can definitively say it's not COVID. You don't need to mix with the hoi-polloi to get COVID - just look at the Olympics.

35 minutes ago, Psiman said:

probably Mossad as usual and blamed on anything else except the obvious as per usual. Wake Up World your getting bamboozled again.

You are aware Mossad is Israeli intelligence, right?

Also, have the Cubans officially come out and given a cause of death for any of these guys (COVID or otherwise)? Any obits in newspapers? If their cause of death isn't even being announced as COVID, let alone other causes, it would seem to increase the odds that this is politically driven. 

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5 minutes ago, MrBirdman said:

With respect, while a purge is certainly a strong possibility neither you nor I can definitively say it's not COVID. You don't need to mix with the hoi-polloi to get COVID - just look at the Olympics.

You are aware Mossad is Israeli intelligence, right?

Also, have the Cubans officially come out and given a cause of death for any of these guys (COVID or otherwise)? Any obits in newspapers? If their cause of death isn't even being announced as COVID, let alone other causes, it would seem to increase the odds that this is politically driven. 

Ok. Im no statistician, but you really believe 5 High ranking Generals spread across the entire island, just happened to die from the same thing? All within 10 days of the largest/most widespread riots in 60 years? After 15 months without a single report of Covid killing any high ranking official, of any kind? 

If you're buying that, I have some beautiful ocean front property here in Colorado that I would LOVE to sell you. I'll give you a great deal too!!

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15 minutes ago, Corylax18 said:

Ok. Im no statistician, but you really believe 5 High ranking Generals spread across the entire island, just happened to die from the same thing?

It's certainly quite a coincidence! But Occam's Razor would still lean towards their uncontrolled pandemic as the reason. Does that mean it is not a purge? Nope, just that all we have right now is circumstantial evidence, and the motive for eliminating these guys in particular isn't clear, especially when some were retired. I get the logic of eliminating generals, but why these guys and not all active commanders? There could be a connection, just haven't seen it elucidated yet.

Also, FWIW, the National Post in Canada is reporting that "associates" of the youngest general have attributed his death to COVID. Take with a grain of salt of course, but worth noting nonetheless. https://nationalpost.com/news/world/cuba-not-saying-much-about-the-deaths-of-five-high-ranking-generals-in-10-days

A good question for @Nino and our other Cuba experts would be whether purges of this kind are the Cuban government's historic MO. Obviously I'm sure there have been many political purges over the years, but do they typically involve furtive execution or just deprive the target of office and position? 

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1 hour ago, MrBirdman said:

 

A good question for @Nino and our other Cuba experts would be whether purges of this kind are the Cuban government's historic MO. Obviously I'm sure there have been many political purges over the years, but do they typically involve furtive execution or just deprive the target of office and position? 

 

I have no idea but I am intrigued by the whole scenario.:cigar:

I can't reconcile non active generals in their 80's as being a threat. There may indeed be a link but I haven't seen one put forward as yet. 

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7 hours ago, Cigar Surgeon said:

Either way I put the over / under on dead Generals at 11. 

Although a bit macabre, that’s a great O/U.  Whenever a line is set, and makes you think…that’s a good number.  I’d reluctantly take the Under, and I’d go easy on the wager.

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7 hours ago, MrBirdman said:

A good question for @Nino and our other Cuba experts would be whether purges of this kind are the Cuban government's historic MO. Obviously I'm sure there have been many political purges over the years, but do they typically involve furtive execution or just deprive the target of office and position? 

There have been purges in Cuba right from the start of the "revolution" - Famous & popular Comandante Camilo Cienfuegos is rumored to have been "disappeared" in his aircraft by Fidel, Comandante Huber Matos was jailed for 25 years after he critized Fidel's communist views, popular General Ochoa, a war hero in Angola, was shot for "drug connections", etc etc etc ...

There are more but those are the most famous ones...

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7 hours ago, MrBirdman said:

But Occam's Razor would still lean towards their uncontrolled pandemic as the reason.

In a Communist regime with a new leader I would suggest Occam's razor would lean towards a purge. 

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2 hours ago, Cigar Surgeon said:

Image

Love it - no more generals left, all have downgraded themselves to privates, sargeants and first lous ... 🙂

Brilliant-.

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  • 3 weeks later...

 

medium_2021-08-16-28d1303714.jpg

 

Reserve brigadier general, Arnoldo Ferrer Martínez, died in Cuba at the age of 81, as reported on Monday by the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) in a note broadcast on national television. With the death of Ferrer Martínez, there are eight high-ranking soldiers who have died on the island in less than a month without the cause of death being specified in any of the cases.

Ferrer Martínez was a combatant in column number 1 under the command of Fidel Castro in the Sierra Maestra and, together with his brother Harold Ferrer Martínez, participated in various actions of the Rebel Army. He was also a member of the Third Front Doctor Mario Muñoz under the orders of Juan Almeida Bosque until 1959.

After that year, he held responsibilities within the FAR as tank company chief, battalion and infantry division chief, and head of the Territorial Troop Militia preparation center.

Ferrer Martínez, who was a member of the Communist Party of Cuba, was in command of the General Staff of the province of Havana and Pinar del Río and was sent to fight in Angola. According to the Granma newspaper, he was also the second chief of staff of the Western Army.

“His body was cremated and his ashes deposited in the veterans’ pantheon of the Colón Necropolis where they will remain until their subsequent transfer to the Mario Muñoz Third Front mausoleum in the province of Santiago de Cuba,” the statement details.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Make that 9 Cuban Generals dead since the start of the protests ...

Cuban general Félix Baranda Columbié, close to Raúl Castro, dies of covid

He is the ninth high-ranking military man to die in Cuba since July, but for the first time the cause of death is cited

14ymedio / EFE, Havana | August 30, 2021

https://www.14ymedio.com/cuba/Muere-Felix-Baranda-Columbie-Castro_0_3158684102.html

Reserve Major General Félix Baranda Columbié, who fought under the command of Raúl Castro in the II Eastern Front of the historic Sierra Maestra guerrilla, died of covid-19, the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces reported this Sunday from Cuba.

Baranda Columbié is the ninth high-ranking military man to die in Cuba since last July, although it is the first time that the cause of death has been openly discussed. On August 16, he preceded the death of Brigadier General - also retired - Arnoldo Ferrer Martínez, another member of the guerrilla who fought under the orders of the late Fidel Castro.

Last July, five generals who were part of the Cuban military leadership also died: Agustín Peña, Marcelo Verdecia Perdomo, Rubén Martínez Puente, Manuel Eduardo Lastres Pacheco and Armando Choy Rodríguez, as well as the commander of the Rebel Army Gilberto Antonio Cardero Sánchez.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Counting 12 dead Generals so far ....

A retired Brigadier General dies in Cuba, and so far 12 have died since 11J
Hiraldo Antonio Mora Orozco would have died from Covid-19, according to the official note.
DDC Havana 18 Sep 2021

https://diariodecuba.com/cuba/1631966210_34190.html

Mora Orozco is the third senior official of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) to die in a week and a half, according to the official media, and the number 12 reported since last July 11, the day when massive protests against the regime shook the island.

From that date on, obituaries of high-ranking officers made public by the official media have been frequent.

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