POWER IN CUBA The process of compulsory m111tary service begun in 1963, culminated in 1973, with the abolition of the vaunted miUtias «The People in Arms>. c ... the Militia has been replaced by a civil defense organization under direct army control. Nor is there anything of a cPeople's Army> about the new organization. . . after each exercise, the guns are safely locked away in the barracks -a far cry from the days when Fidel declared that he was prepared to distribute arms «even to cats> ... > (38). Cuba boasts the most powerful army in Latin America. Russia and «the socialist countries> supplied Cuba with massive armaments and military technicians. Hundreds of young officers in the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) were trained in Russla (39). As early as 1963, the military expert Hanson Baldwin considered the Cuban air force to be the « most modern and potentially the most powerful in Latin America> (40). It has been greatly strengthened since with Russian MIOS and other equipment. Cuba also has «a formidable array or anti-aircraft missiles, coast artillery, radar stations ... > (41), long range cannons the latest Ught and heavy tanks and other modern weapons. Wlth the cooperatlon of Soviet m111tary experts, Raul Castro transformed the Cuban armed forces into a highly d1sc1plined, highly stratifled military machine differlng ln no essential respect from the modern conventional armies of the great mllitary powers. Raul Castro is a far more capable mmtary organizer and strategist than is his brother Fidel. Raul and not Fidel actually devised the strategy and organized the Guerrma War in the Sierra Maestra and in the Sierra de Cristal which preclpitated the downfall of Batista. Raul, has since then capably commanded the Cuban army (42). Nearly all the commanders who served under Raul became high officers in the Cuban army, govemment, and members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. It would be a mistake to assume that Raul Castro is a mere flgurehead ln the regime. He not only shares power with hls brother Fidel, he wellds considerable power on his own account. When Castro travels abroad, Raul rules Cuba in his place until Fidel returns. And Fidel named Raul to succeed him if he is (38) Karol, ibid., p. 457 -also Granma, April 22, 1973. (39) Matthews, ibid., p. 187. (40) (41) Matthews, ibid., p. 407. (42) Matthews, ibid., p. 102, 61
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