10 Questions for the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR)

10 Questions for the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) /
Reinaldo Escobar
Posted on July 21, 2013

At the end of this morning's TV news magazine, Buenos Dias,
conspicuously absent in the official Cuban media was the issue of the
North Korean ship loaded with missiles. I am absolutely certain that the
coming days will produce nothing like a press conference with the
Minister of the Armed Forces to respond to questions from foreign
journalists accredited on the Island, not even with the accomplices of
the national press. However, I would like to make public, in this small
space, what my questions would be, should I be given the opportunity to
present them to the minister in question face to face.

- Do you consider that contracting with North Korea for armaments repair
services is consistent with the policy or replacing imports set out in
the guidelines from the 6th Congress of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC)?
- Does Cuba lack the technical facilities and personnel capable of
maintaining combat readiness of the armaments available for the defense
of the Homeland?
- To what point does the obsolescence of our munitions affect the often
proclaimed military invulnerability of Cuba?
- What elements were taken into consideration in choosing North Korea as
a destination to repair our armaments instead of contracting this
service out to Russia, where they were built?
- Is it true that in the agreements signed by the Cuban government with
the USSR there is a commitment established not to re-export the arms
acquired?
- The note from the Foreign Ministry (MINREX) mentions that there were
two complete rockets on board the North Korean ship. Were they so
entirely broken that they had to be shipped in their entirety to be
repaired?
- Is the fact that the weapons were covered with sugar an intent to mask
the military cargo, or is it a new method of taking advantage of the space?
- To what extent does the Cuban government share the responsibility for
not having informed Panama what was being transported in the holds of
the ship?
- In the contract signed to repair these armaments in North Korea did
the government of Cuba introduce any clause about the discretion, any
warning, that would prevent the North - - Koreans from doing something
else with these weapons?
- At what level was this high-risk operation organized? Was it your
personal decision or was it known to president Raul Castro?

19 July 2013

Source: "10 Questions for the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces
(FAR) / Reinaldo Escobar | Translating Cuba" -
http://translatingcuba.com/10-questions-for-the-minister-of-the-revolutionary-armed-forces-far-reinaldo-escobar/