Carlos Rafael Rodríguez Rodríguez (May 23, 1913 – December 8, 1997) was a

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

politician and economist, who served in the cabinets of presidents

Fulgencio Batista Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (; ; born Rubén Zaldívar, January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who served as the elected president of Cuba from 1940 to 1944 and as its U.S.-backed military dictator ...

and

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...

. Born in

Cienfuegos Cienfuegos (), capital of Cienfuegos Province, is a city on the southern coast of Cuba. It is located about from Havana and has a population of 150,000. Since the late 1960s, Cienfuegos has become one of Cuba's main industrial centers, especial ...

, he became

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

of the city when he was only 20. Four years later, he joined the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

and was appointed editor of the party newspaper, ''Hoy''.Dillon. He graduated from university in 1939. Although he was a participant in the 1935 general strike against provisional President

Carlos Mendieta Carlos Mendieta y Montefur (4 November 1873 – 27 September 1960) was a Cuban politician and interim President of Cuba. A chief opponent of Gerardo Machado, Mendieta was installed as interim President of Cuba in 1934 by a coup led by Fulgencio ...

,Suchlicki 106. in 1942, Rodríguez joined the cabinet of President

. A "dedicated Marxist", Rodríguez's participation in the Batista cabinet marked the high point of the regime's collaboration with the Communist Party. Rodríguez first met

through a mutual friend after Castro visited the Communist Party's bookstore a few days before his disastrous attack on the

Moncada Barracks The Moncada Barracks was a military barracks in Santiago de Cuba, named after General Guillermo Moncada, a hero of the Cuban War of Independence. On 26 July 1953, the barracks was the site of an armed attack by a small group of revolutionaries ...

on July 26, 1953.Domínguez 30. Although Rodríguez denounced the attack after it occurred, he eventually allied himself with Castro in the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in cou ...

. In July 1958, he joined the

26th of July Movement The 26th of July Movement ( es, Movimiento 26 de Julio; M-26-7) was a Cuban vanguard revolutionary organization and later a political party led by Fidel Castro. The movement's name commemorates its 26 July 1953 attack on the army barracks on San ...

in the

Sierra Maestra The Sierra Maestra is a mountain range that runs westward across the south of the old Oriente Province in southeast Cuba, rising abruptly from the coast. The range falls mainly within the Santiago de Cuba and in Granma Provinces. Some view it a ...

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

in support of its guerrilla war against Batista; it was the first such gesture of support by the Communist Party for the rebels. Castro befriended him, and after his victory, he rewarded Rodríguez with top posts in the Cuban government. From 1962 to 1965, Rodríguez headed the

National Institute of Agrarian Reform The National Institute for Agrarian Reform ( es, Instituto Nacional de Reforma Agraria, INRA) was an agency of the Cuban Government that was formed to institute the Agrarian Reform Law of 1959. INRA also implemented the Second Agrarian Reform La ...

, and was referred to by some in the foreign press as Cuba's economic czar. In 1969, Castro sent him as an "observer" to the

International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties The International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties (IMCWP) is an annual conference attended by communist and workers' parties from several countries. It originated in 1998 when the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) invited communist an ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, where he gave an important speech declaring that Cuba would "stand unflinchingly by the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

".Suchlicki 153–4. The speech was one of a series of steps taken by the Castro regime to move closer to the Soviet Union after having publicly disagreed with the Soviets in the early- and mid-1960s. Rodríguez remained a key figure in Soviet-Cuban relations, providing public statements during times of friendship and discord. Before being sidelined in 1997 with deteriorating health, he served on the

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states. Names The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...

and as Vice President. He suffered from

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

and died in Havana, with Castro presiding over his burial ceremony.

Notes

References

*Domínguez, Jorge I. (1989). ''To Make a World Safe for Revolution: Cuba's Foreign Policy''. Cambridge, Massachusetts:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...

. . *Suchlicki, Jaime (2002). ''Cuba: from Columbus to Castro and Beyond'', 5th Edition. Washington, D.C.: Brassey's. . *Dillon, Sam (December 13, 1997).
Carlos Rodriguez, Castro Ally And Leftist Leader, Dies at 84
. ''The New York Times''. Retrieved on January 31, 2008. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez, Carlos Rafael 1913 births 1997 deaths Communist Party of Cuba politicians Mayors of places in Cuba Government ministers of Cuba Neurological disease deaths in Cuba Deaths from Parkinson's disease People of the Cuban Revolution Popular Socialist Party (Cuba) politicians University of Havana alumni