Raul Castro continues to revamp aging cabinet

HAVANA - Cuban leader Raul Castro continues to revamp his cabinet by replacing elder statesmen with younger members as part of ongoing measures to modernize the government, official media sources said Thursday.

Raul Castro has replaced Vice President of the Council of Ministers Jose Ramon Fernandez with Miguel Diaz-Canel who served as Minister of Higher Education, the official Granma daily said.

The respected Fernandez is a historical figure of the Cuban Revolution, while the dynamic Diaz is a rising star of Cuba's Communist Party (CCP).

Acting on a recommendation from Raul Castro, the Council of State agreed "to release comrade Fernandez from the post of Vice President of the Council of Ministers ... and appoint him adviser to the presidency," Granma said, citing a government press release.

Though the release did not specify why the change was made, observers speculate Fernandez's advanced age was a determining factor.

Rodolfo Alarcon Ortiz, who served as first deputy education minister, has been promoted to replace Diaz.

Castro has also replaced Science, Technology and Environment Minister Jose Miyar Barrueco with Elba Rosa Montoya, former chief of the Department of Science at the CCP's Central Committee.

The changes are among some 300 reform measures being promoted by Castro, himself 80, to modernize the island nation's socialist system and trim the bloated public sector.

Castro has said that preparing younger leaders to take over from the "generation that forged the Revolution," most of whom are today around 80 or older, is a major concern and priority of his administration.