Carlos Rafael Rodríguez

Who was Carlos Rafael Rodríguez?

Carlos Rafael Rodríguez was a Cuban Communist politician, who served in the cabinets of presidents Fulgencio Batista and Fidel Castro.

Born in Cienfuegos, he became mayor of the city when he was only 20. Four years later, he joined the Communist Party and was appointed editor of the party newspaper, Hoy. He graduated from university in 1939. Although he was a participant in the 1935 general strike against provisional President Carlos Mendieta, in 1942, Rodríguez joined the cabinet of President Fulgencio Batista. A "dedicated Marxist", Rodríguez's participation in the Batista cabinet marked the high point of the regime's collaboration with the Communist Party.

Rodríguez first met Fidel Castro through a mutual friend after Castro visited the Communist Party's bookstore a few days before his disastrous attack on the Moncada Barracks on July 26, 1953. Although Rodríguez denounced the attack after it occurred, he would eventually ally himself with Castro in the Cuban Revolution.