The official journalist went from the magazine ‘Alma Mater’ to the Palco group; from a minor editorial team to accompany Miguel Díaz-Canel and Manuel Marrero Cruz.
HAVANA, Cuba. – “As I see it, Franco Senén has two options: either show great regret and try, licking even more boots, to regain the trust of the regime, or, on the contrary, completely deviate from the official line. Apparently, he is taking the first path.” This is how I finished in May 2022 a note in which he analyzed the expulsion of Armando Franco Senén from the magazine Alma materof which he was its director until that moment. The event generated an intense controversy in which many of his colleagues, supporters of the regime, defended him.
Less than three months later, the official journalist became part of the Board of Directors of the Palco Business Group, specifically as Director of Marketing and Communication. The entity mentioned that, with its promotion, the aim was to achieve “a Box closer to its clients and partners, tempered with the dynamics of current times.”
In this way and contrary to all predictions of defenestration Taking into account similar cases in Castroism, it was demonstrated that there are mechanisms within the dictatorial leadership to “turn setback into victory” or “fall upward.” Franco Senén rose from a minor position – from which he was expelled by the Union of Young Communists (UJC) – to a much higher position, both in decision-making power and influence within the Castro nomenclature.
The state conglomerate Palco has been in charge of managing hotels, restaurants, a convention center, among other lucrative businesses. For decades, its spaces have operated as key mechanisms for the management of million-dollar income through tourism, international events, the importation and distribution of goods in Cuba, which often occurs under the guise of state entities, but controlled in a discretionary manner. He was in charge of Palco for decades Abraham Maciquesa central figure in the business machinery of the Cuban regime and a trusted man of Fidel Castro.
Apparently, Franco Senén’s career within the group has been a success: a report from Cuban Television broadcast at the end of last August, it presented him as director of the Palco Group Events Company. In the same video he was seen accompanying the prime minister of the Cuban regime, Manuel Marrero Cruz, during a tour of the Pabexpo fairgrounds. Likewise, as part of the summer programming, he was also seen alongside the ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel and the deputy prime minister Inés María Chapman.
The repressor
At the beginning of this month, the Observatory of Academic Freedom (OLA) denounced one of Franco Senén’s actions, presumably to gain promotions within the ruling leadership. According to OLA, in 2019, when he was a professor at the Faculty of Communication at the University of Havana, he was complicit in repressive actions by State Security against Beatriz del Carmen Hidalgo-Gato Batista, a Communication student and animal rights activist.
The young woman “received a call from Professor Armando Franco summoning her to a meeting with the dean, Dr. Raúl Garcés, which would take place at his faculty. Upon arrival, she met both teachers and two State Security agents.” During the interrogation, they questioned her civic ideas and the agents warned her: “Stay calm, because you can lose the race.”
At the end of the meeting, Franco and Garcés spoke with her privately. The dean told her: “You are not stupid; otherwise, you would not have organized a march. Stay calm, we are going to organize an organization.” [sic] “animalist university student.”
This never happened; On the other hand, the harassment of the political police in the university environment against the young woman, and with the complicity of professors, intensified since then: her classmates were pressured to isolate her socially.
Hidalgo-Gato Batista ended up opting for exile. Currently, Garcés has a management position at the United Nations office in Cuba, where he serves as Coordination, Communication and Advocacy officer. For his part, Franco Senén became director of the magazine Alma materfrom where he made the big leap to Palco.
