Who holds each post

On January 3, 1959 Fidel Castro named him commander of La Cabaña and supreme judge of the revolutionary tribunals.

According to Cuba Archive, at least 73 people were executed by firing squad at La Cabaña between January 4 and November 26, 1959.

Cuba Archive attributes nearly one hundred executions at La Cabaña and in the Sierra Maestra to him.

In 1959 he established a one-party state; hundreds of supporters of the Batista government were executed and the independent press was suppressed.

The Cuban state submitted to the IACHR statements by Fidel Castro that called the actions of the vessels that sank the “13 de Marzo” tugboat a “truly patriotic effort.”

In 2010, speaking about the persecution of homosexuals in Cuba, he said: “if anyone is responsible, it’s me.”

He created the National Enterprise for the Protection of Flora and Fauna, which he heads; he was deputy prime minister and Minister of Transportation.

In 2019 he said on the Mesa Redonda program that “an ostrich produces more than a cow.”

As the first Minister of the Interior he led the creation of the State Security and Intelligence services.

He was Minister of the Interior on two occasions, heading the apparatus in charge of State Security, the police and the prison system.

The official notice of his death describes him as “second-in-command of La Cabaña” and “head of the State Security services.”

A federal grand jury in Miami indicted him in April 2026 for conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals and for four murders over the 1996 shootdown of the Brothers to the Rescue planes; the indictment was made public on May 20, 2026.

On May 18, 2026 the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control added him to its sanctions list.

His official biography records that he was an “operational officer in the Ministry of the Interior” and that he headed the Gaviota Tourism Group.

The Gaviota Tourism Group appears on the State Department’s Cuba Restricted List as an entity controlled by the military.

On December 20, 2023 he announced before the National Assembly price increases and the end of the universal ration book (libreta) subsidy.

On July 11, 2021 he said on television: “The order to fight has been given: revolutionaries, to the streets.”

On May 18, 2026 the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control added him to its sanctions list.

He was Minister of Labor (1995–1999) and secretary general of the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (2006–2013).

On September 13, 2010 the CTC he headed announced the dismissal of at least 500,000 state workers.

In 1989 he took over the Ministry of the Interior after the fall of José Abrantes, and ran it until his resignation on October 26, 2015.

While he was minister, the Ministry of the Interior’s statement described the sinking of the “13 de Marzo” tugboat as an accident; the IACHR concluded that Cuba violated the right to life of 41 people.

On June 4, 2026 the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control added him to its sanctions list.

In sanctioning him, the U.S. Department of the Treasury stated that the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) played “an integral role” in the repression of the July 2021 protests.

In sanctioning him, the U.S. Department of the Treasury cited the case of José Daniel Ferrer, who reported being beaten, tortured and isolated in a Ministry of the Interior prison.

In June 2025 he was promoted to army corps general.

The U.S. State Department designated her on September 26, 2019 under Section 7031(c), together with her father and three siblings.

On September 30, 2020 the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control added him to its sanctions list.

He is Raúl Castro’s grandson and since 2016 has headed the General Directorate of Personal Security, with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

According to AP, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with him secretly in February 2026.

He took over the Foreign Ministry on March 2, 2009, after Felipe Pérez Roque was dismissed.

In a 2026 interview with ABC News he said that in Cuba “there are no political prisoners.”

On April 8, 2021 he called on television for members of the San Isidro Movement and 27N to be tried for “treason against the homeland.”

In July 2021 he acknowledged on television that most of the sentences for the protests came out of summary trials.

In October 2022 he broadcast on the Noticiero (the state TV news) the testimony, recorded in detention, of a young woman prosecuted for livestreaming the Nuevitas protests.

On April 19, 2021 he was elected a member of the Secretariat and head of the Ideological Department of the Party’s Central Committee.

Since 2024 he has been Cuba’s ambassador to Vietnam.

In March 2022 he publicly criticized the circulation of names and images of judges and prosecutors from the 11J trials.

In December 2021 he stated that Cuba is “among the leading countries” in human rights guarantees.

He was relieved of his post on December 18, 2025.

On January 25, 2022 the Attorney General’s Office she heads reported that 790 people faced charges over the July 2021 protests, some for sedition.

On June 13, 2022 the Attorney General’s Office reported 381 people sentenced over 11J, 297 of them to terms of up to 25 years.

In March 2026 she signed orders to continue “terrorism” proceedings in absentia against two exiled activists.