Officials

• Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque
  Felipe Pérez Roque
  Felipe Ramón Pérez Roque was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba from 1999 to 2009. At his appointment, he was not only the youngest member of the Cuban cabinet but also the only one to be born after the Cuban Revolution in 1959.Pérez Roque was formerly an electronics engineer and leader of...
  
   was dismissed on 2 March 2009. Fidel Castro then criticized him for love of power in a statement on 3 March, and Pérez Roque announced his resignation from all his party and state positions—membership on the Communist Party's Central Committee and Political Bureau, membership on the Council of State, and his role as a parliamentary deputy—in a letter published on 5 March. In that letter, he also accepted Castro's criticism and agreed that he had committed errors.He was replaced by Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla
  Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla
  Bruno Eduardo Rodríguez Parrilla is a Cuban diplomat and politician. He is presently the Foreign Minister of Cuba. He was his country's Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1995 to 2003. Rodríguez Parrilla was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs on March 2, 2009, replacing...
  
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• Secretary of Council of Ministers Carlos Lage Dávila
  Carlos Lage Dávila
  Carlos Lage Dávila is a Cuban politician. Until 2009, he was a Vice President of the Council of State of Cuba, a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Cuba, and Executive Secretary of the Council of Ministers of Cuba. Lage was described as Cuba's de facto prime minister.Lage trained as...
  
   was replaced by Brig. Gen. José Amado Ricardo Guerra
  José Amado Ricardo Guerra
  José Amado Ricardo Guerra is the Secretary of Council of Ministers in Cuba. He was appointed a result of the 2009 shake-up by Raúl Castro.-References:...
  
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• José Luis Rodríguez García
  José Luis Rodríguez García
  José Luis Rodríguez García was the Cuban Minister of Economy and Planning. He was also a Vice President of the Cuban Council of Ministers and an elected member of the National Assembly of Cuba. Rodríguez was Minister of Economy and Planning since 1998. He was replaced by Internal Trade Minister...
  
  , the economy minister. He was replaced by Marino Murillo Jorge
  Marino Murillo Jorge
  Marino Alberto Murillo Jorge is a Cuban politician, economist and former military officer. He received national media attention in 2009 on his appointment as Minister of Planning and Economy following the government shake-up announced by Raúl Castro on 2 March 2009...
  
  .
• Raúl de la Nuez, the foreign trade minister. He was replaced by Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz
  Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz
  Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz is a Cuban diplomat and politician. Mr. Malmierca is the Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment as a result of the 2009 shake-up by Raúl Castro. He was the Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations from 2005-2009...
  
  , then foreign investment minister. Both ministries merged.
• Georgina Barreiro Fajardo, the finance minister. Replaced by Lina Pedraza Rodríguez.
• Alfredo Morales Cartaya, the labour minister was replaced by Margarita Marlene González Fernández
  Margarita Marlene Gonzalez Fernandez
  Margarita Marlene González Fernández is a Cuban politician and is the Cuban Minister of Labor and Social Security . She was appointed as a result of the 2009 shake-up by Raúl Castro....
  
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• Internal Commerce Minister Murillo Jorge was replaced by Jacinto Angulo Pardo
  Jacinto Angulo Pardo
  Jacinto Angulo Pardo is a Cuban politician and the Cuban Minister of Internal Trade . He was appointed in 2009 shake-up by Raúl Castro. Mr Angulo has a master's degree in International Relations and is an industrial engineer...
  
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• Government Vice President Otto Rivero Torres was replaced by Ramiro Valdés Menéndez.
• Food Minister Alejandro Roca Iglesias and Fishing Minister Alfredo López Valdés were replaced by María del Carmen Concepción González
  María del Carmen Concepción González
  María del Carmen Concepción González is a Cuban politician and the Cuban Minister of Food Industries . She was appointed as a result of the 2009 shake-up by Raúl Castro. She is a Deputy to the National Assembly of Popular Power...
  
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• Education Minister Juan Vela Valdés was replaced by Miguel Díaz-Canel.
• Heavy Industries Minister Fernando Acosta Santana was replaced by Salvador Pardo Cruz
  Salvador Pardo Cruz
  Brigade General Salvador Pardo Cruz is a Cuban politician and the Cuban Minister of Heavy Industries , replacing Fernando Acosta Santana after the 2009 shake-up by Raúl Castro....
  
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Economic reforms

In the article Purge Aims to Halt Cuba's Economic Free Fall, Miami Herald suggested that the purpose was to get rid of the people who may have stood in the way of economic reforms.

Hugo Chávez

Former Mexican foreign minister Jorge Castañeda Gutman, in his Newsweek article published in the March 23, 2009 issue, suggested that Hugo Chávez

Hugo Chávez

Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...

 was plotting a coup in Cuba due to concerns that Raul Castro would make concessions that would betray the 50-year-old Cuban Revolution.

According to his thesis, Hugo Chávez asked Leonel Fernández

Leonel Fernández

Leonel Antonio Fernández Reyna is a Dominican lawyer, academic, and the current President of the Dominican Republic since 2004. He held the same office from 1996 to 2000...

 of the Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...

to support the plot, but he declined.