Cuba's Communist Party has expelled Roberto Robaina, a former foreign minister who was once a rising star under President Fidel Castro, from its ranks for being "disloyal to the revolution," a government source said today.
The source, confirming rumors circulating in Havana and some foreign press reports, said the decision was taken at a recent meeting of the Communist Party's Central Committee.
The Communist Party's ruling body also banned Robaina from future leadership posts and recommended that he be expelled from the Cuban National Assembly, the island's legislature that faithfully follows the Communist Party line.
The government and state-run media have not mentioned the decision and Robaina refused comment when asked about it by foreign reporters on Wednesday in front of his home in Havana.
Robaina, 46, was once a party golden boy promoted by Castro in the 1990s. A one-time leader of the Union of Young Communists, he went on to be a member of the Communist Party's Politburo and was considered at one stage to be a possible successor to Castro, 75 and in power since 1959.
But Castro, in a move that surprised many international observers, dismissed Robaina as foreign minister in 1999 after he had served six years in the post. The government said at the time only that there was a need for "deeper, more rigorous, more systematic and demanding work in this area."
Asked why the Communist Party had not expelled Robaina sooner, a government source said, "they tried to make him see the errors of his ways, and though he admitted making mistakes, they felt he never really accepted the criticism."