Roberto Robaina

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Roberto "Robertico" Robaina González (born March 18, 1956 in Pinar del Río , Cuba ) is a Cuban painter and former politician .

Life

After attending school, he studied mathematics and then worked as a mathematics teacher.

Robaina began his political career within the youth organization of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) , the Unión de Jóvenes Comunistas (UJC), was president of the official student association Federación de Estudiantes Universitarios (FEU) and moved from second to first in 1986 as the successor to Carlos Lage Secretary of the UJC. In this function, he was also elected to the PCC's Central Committee in the same year and to its Politburo in 1991 (as the youngest member) .

In 1993 he was appointed Foreign Minister by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers , Fidel Castro , to succeed Ricardo Alarcón , without having had any foreign or diplomatic experience at the time. He was also seen as a possible successor to Castro. In an interview , the journalist and dissident Norberto Fuentes doubted Robaina's leadership qualities for a successor to Castro at an early stage.

However, after a six-year term in office, he was dismissed as Foreign Minister in May 1999, to the surprise of many international observers. At that time, the government justified his dismissal on the grounds that "this area required deeper, more rigorous, more systematic and more demanding processing" . Robaina himself stepped out of the political limelight and in the following years there was no further background why he had fallen from grace. Successor as foreign minister was then Castro's previous private secretary and close confidante Felipe Pérez Roque .

He was charged with "disloyalty to the 2002 Cuban Revolution " from the PCC ruled out after his exit request before the party leader, Fidel Castro, rejected and the matter was submitted to the Central Committee for consideration. In a two-hour video documentation, which was shown exclusively to party members, it was explained that Robaina had unauthorized contacts with foreign officials and business people during his tenure as Foreign Minister and had taken positions abroad that he was also not authorized to take. He had maintained friendly contacts with the governor of the Mexican province of Quintana Roo , Mario Villanueva, who was later convicted of drug trafficking and money laundering, and received money from this. In addition, he has been criticized for his statements at home and abroad, which led to the conclusion that he is the future president of Cuba. The Cuban media reported neither the misconduct nor the expulsion from the party. Rumors of corruption brought Robaina, who had enjoyed the privileged life of a high official at a relatively young age, to derogate from his family name in "Roba y na '" ("he steals and (otherwise) nothing").

After his release, Roberto Robaina was temporarily the administrator of the municipal Almendares Park and later exhibited as a self-taught painter in galleries in Cuba and abroad. As part of President Raúl Castro's initiative to make it easier to set up private small businesses (since 2010), Robaina and his family opened the “La Paila” restaurant in Havana in 2011, which is run by his son. According to his own statements, however, he continues to live exclusively from painting.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Leave us alone at last. Spiegel interview with Politburo member Roberto Robaina about the future of Cuban socialism . In: Der Spiegel . No. 22 , 1992, pp. 155 ( online - May 25, 1992 ).
  2. ↑ Bert Hoffmann: Rejuvenation of Power: The 37-year-old Roberto Robaina becomes Cuba's new foreign minister. In: Latin America News . May 1993, accessed July 3, 2015
  3. ^ Generation change in Cuba. The new Foreign Minister Robaina wants to clean up relations with the USA . In: Der Spiegel . No. 15 , 1993, p. 146 ( Online - Apr. 12, 1993 ).
  4. ↑ Castro doesn't give up. The writer and dissident Norberto Fuentes on the resistance against the red caudillo . In: Der Spiegel . No. 36 , 1994, pp. 153-154 ( online - Sept. 5, 1994 ).
  5. ↑ Castro returns with an iron broom . In: Der Spiegel . No. 25 , 1999, pp. 155 ( online - 21 June 1999 ).
  6. ↑ Helene Zuber: Skirmishes in the park . In: Der Spiegel . No. 46 , 1999, pp. 232-234 ( Online - Nov. 15, 1999 ).
  7. ↑ Cuba's Communist Party expels Robaina ( Memento of the original from August 26, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: The Miami Herald of August 1, 2002, accessed via CubaNet on February 27, 2013 (English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cubanet.org
  8. ↑ Gerardo Reyes: Podrían salir a la luz nexos de narcos mexicanos con Roberto Robaina. In: El Nuevo Herald (Miami), May 11, 2010, accessed April 28, 2011 (Spanish)
  9. ^ Primeros secretarios de la UJC. ( Memento of the original from December 11, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Cubanet.org of October 13, 2005, accessed April 28, 2011 (Spanish) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cubanet.org
  10. ↑ Robertico Robaina expone sus obras en Buenos Aires, por primera vez, pero no viaja. In: CubaEncuentro. dated April 3, 2009, accessed April 28, 2011 (Spanish)
  11. ↑ Ted Henken: Robertico tiene un Paladar! El Yuma blog from April 26, 2011, accessed April 27, 2011
  12. ↑ Ex canciller niega tener una paladar y dice que es un negocio de su familia. In: Diario de Cuba. dated April 28, 2011, accessed April 28, 2011 (Spanish)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Robaina, Roberto
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Robaina González, Roberto (full name); Robaina González, Robertico
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cuban politician
DATE OF BIRTH March 18, 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH Pinar del Río , Cuba