Leopoldo Cintra Frias
Leopoldo Cintra Frías (born July 17, 1941 in Yara , Oriente Province ) is a Cuban politician of the Communist Party of Cuba, PCC (Partido Comunista de Cuba) and Corps General of the Revolutionary Armed Forces ( Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias ) , who has been Minister of Defense in the Cuban Council of Ministers since 2011 .
Life
Cintra Frías grew up on his father's estate and was involved in the Youth Association of Hope of Fraternity AJEF (Agrupación de Jóvenes Esperanza de la Fraternidad) , a youth organization of Freemasonry . In the mid-1950s he joined the resistance against the dictatorial ruling President Fulgencio Batista in the Sierra Maestra and joined the Revolutionary Army (Ejército Rebelde) in November 1957 at the age of sixteen , in which he belonged to the group around Crescencio Pérez until January 1958 . After the second battle in Pino del Agua he became a fighter in the 1st column (Columna Nº1 " José Martí ") led by Pepín Quiala , which had previously been sent by Frank País to support the troops in the Sierra Maestra. Soon afterwards he himself became head of the 1st column and was under the direct orders of Fidel Castro in the final phase of the Cuban Revolution . He followed this on the march to Havana , the so-called "Caravan of Liberation" (La Caravana de la Libertad) and was first promoted to lieutenant and shortly afterwards from Castro to captain .
After Batista's fall and the victory of the revolution, Cintra Frías completed a course for artillery and tank drivers in Czechoslovakia and then a course at the College of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (Escuela Superior de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias) . In 1965 he was one of the co-founders of the Communist Party of Cuba PCC (Partido Comunista de Cuba) . In the following years he acted as head of the Terrestrial Artillery Brigade in Caimito in 1900 and then as head of the motorized infantry division, before he became head of the artillery department of the General Staff and between 1975 and 1976 during the invasion of Angola and during the South African border war, he was the head of the southern front of the troops in the southern Africa was. In 1976 he became a member of the National Assembly of People's Power ( Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular ) and in 1978, during the Ethiopian Civil War, he served as head of the 3rd Armored Brigade deployed in Ethiopia .
In 1982 Cintra Frías was a graduate of the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR " KJ Voroshilov " and then head of the armored division. In January / February 1988, as head of the Cuban military division, he was responsible for the various combat operations at the battle of Cuito Cuanavale in the South African border war and the offensive there on the south-eastern front in Angola. After his return to Cuba in 1989 he was awarded the title of Hero of the Republic of Cuba (Héroe de la República de Cuba) . He then became chief of the Eastern Army in 1990 (Ejército Oriental) . At the 4th Party Congress in 1991 in Santiago de Cuba , he became a member of the Central Committee (ZK) and the Politburo of the Central Committee of the PCC . In 2001 he was promoted to corps general (General de Cuerpo de Ejército) .
In October 2008, Corps General Cintra Frías became First Vice Minister for Defense (Viceministro Primero de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias) . After Julio Casas Regueiro's death on September 3, 2011, he took over the post of Minister of Defense (Ministro de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias) on a temporary basis and officially on November 8, 2011 as his successor .
See also
Web link
- Biography on the homepage of the Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Cintra Frías, Leopoldo |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Cuban corps general and politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 17, 1941 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Yara , Oriente Province |