(RIA Novosti) - Two Cuban leaders who took part in the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power were dismissed earlier this month in a government reshuffle, an official publication said.The Official Gazette gave no reasons on Tuesday for the dismissal of Osmany Cienfuegos and Pedro Cimet, who were both removed from their positions as vice presidents in the Cabinet of Ministers.
Osmany Cienfuegos, 78, is the older brother of Camilo Cienfuegos, who was one of the leaders of the 1959 revolution. An iconic figure in Cuba, he died in a plane crash the same year as the uprising that overthrew General Fulgencio Batista and transformed the Latin American island into a communist state.
Miret, 82, took part in the 1953 attack on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago de Cuba. He was also on board the Granma yacht which brought Castro's tiny army to Cuba from Mexico in 1956.
The news of the two men's dismissal was not made public when President Raul Castro announced the government reshuffle at the beginning of March. The two most notable figures to lose their positions in the March 2 shake-up were Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and Cabinet chief Carlos Lage. Both men said later in official press publications that they had "made mistakes" and were stepping down.
Castro and the ruling State Council said the reshuffle, which saw a total of eight ministers replaced, was designed to improve the efficiency of the Cuban government.