Abstract: | Since the beginning of the Cuban Revolution, Raúl Castro and his Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) has sought to maintain at least operational control over state security, i.e., the Ministry of Interior (Minint). Between 1960 and 1989 FAR and Minint competed for resources and for the attention of the Revolution’s supreme leader, Fidel Castro. In 1989 Raúl Castro was finally able to achieve his objective of absorbing Minint’s operational missions, namely domestic security, when, after a series of crises associated with the end of the Cold War, corruption scandals in Minint, and indiscretions by the Minint leadership, Fidel acquiesced and allowed Raúl and FAR to purge Minint and take control of state security. |