MIAMI, United States. – Carlos Aldana Escalante, who was an important political figure in Cuba until his dismissal in 1992, died this Wednesday in Havana at the age of 82, affected by pneumonia and complications related to Parkinson’s, according to the channel. America TeVé and the middle Strong Coffee.
The former official of the Cuban regime was hospitalized for about a month at the Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital due to brain trauma after suffering a fall at his home, the reports add.
“His health deteriorated after the fall that caused a stroke and kept him in intensive care,” he told Strong Coffee the writer Norberto Fuentes, known for his friendship with the former leader. “The family recognizes that Aldana received careful attention during her stay in the hospital,” added the writer.
Aldana rose in power from the mid-1980s, becoming considered the third figure in the regime. He held positions as a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party and head of the Ideological, Education and Culture and International Relations departments of the Central Committee.
With the support of Raul Castro and the approval of Fidel CastroAldana played a key role during the years of ideological confrontation in the academic, intellectual and artistic sectors.
He actively participated in the multilateral negotiations that led to the withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola and the independence of Namibia in 1990.
Internally, he attempted to dissolve the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC), establish guidelines in the press sector and delimit the critical expressions of artists and intellectuals.
In October 1987, he organized a meeting between journalism students from the University of Havana and Fidel Castro, motivated by criticism of the functioning of the press and the government system. The meeting provoked Castro’s anger due to questions from students, and Aldana was appointed to manage the crisis and lead the purges at the Faculty of Journalism.
Despite the power he had achieved, in October 1992, he was removed from his positions and expelled from the Communist Party for “serious defects in the performance of his duties” and “serious personal errors.”
Aldana was accused of receiving personal favors, gifts and even a credit card from Cuban businessman Eberto López Morales, manager of the firm Caribbean Audiovisuales SA, dedicated to the import of electronic equipment.
“The true causes of his defenestration are the subject of multiple interpretations in the foreign press. “I only know that the officers in charge of expelling him from his office told him that he could not move a single pin from the drawers and that Fidel sent him the message that he did not want to see him in the Plaza de la Revolución or as an audience,” Fuentes stated. to Strong Coffee.
Since his fall from grace, Aldana remained ostracized and away from public life, never appearing again in the media or at official events.
