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

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

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 played a dominant role in Cuban politics from his initial rise to power as part of the 1933 Revolt of t ...

and

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

. 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 178,368 in 2022. Since the late 1960s, Cienfuegos has become one of Cuba's main industrial centers, ...

, he became

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, 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 responsibilitie ...

of the city when he was only 20. Four years later, he joined the Communist Party 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,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 were military barracks in Santiago de Cuba, 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 revolutiona ...

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 () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

. In July 1958, he joined the

26th of July Movement The 26 July Movement (; M-26-7) was a Cuban vanguard revolutionary organization and later a political party led by Fidel Castro. The movement's name commemorates the failed 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba, part of an at ...

in the Sierra Maestra

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 aris ...

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, 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 is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

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

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

".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 highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

and as Vice President. He suffered from

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

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 an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

. . *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