Raul Castro Visits National Defense Council Entities

Army General Raul Castro Ruz, president of the National Defense Council, visited the military command for Cuba’s internal security forces, after Tuesday’s launch of the strategic exercises known as “Bastion 2013.”

According to an official note released in this capital today, Colonel Emir Mesa Corona, second departmental chief at the Ministry of Interior informed Raul Castro about the fulfillment of the first stage of activities within the planned exercises.

Strategic Exercise Bastion 2013 Takes Place in Sancti Spiritus

Meanwhile, Raul Castro made reference to Cuba’s experience in its wars for independence and the international military conflicts underway ever since World War II, up to and including the latest wars in Libya and Syria.

Raul Castro chaired the meeting of the National Defense Council’s Social Economic Entity yesterday, where its chief, Adel Yzquierdo Rodriguez, vice president of the Council of Ministers, reported on the state of the economy at the current stage of the exercise, the official note stated.

Raul Castro reflected on the need to fully analyze, repeatedly, the important decisions demanded by the country’s economy, the indispensable need for foresight in these issues, as well as consistency with the implementation of the guidelines adopted at the 6th Congress of the Cuban Communist Party.

National Defense Council presidents Jose Ramon Machado Ventura and Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, army generals Abelardo Colome Ibarra and Leopoldo Cintra Frias, Interior and Armed Forces ministers respectively, additional members of the Council of Ministers, as well as leaders and officials participated in both activities.

As previously reported, Bastion 2013 will run through Nov. 22, and as a culmination of the exercise, there will be two National Defense Days the following weekend.