14ymedio, Havana, February 1, 2024 — The first secretary of the Communist Party in Santiago de Cuba, José Ramón Monteagudo Ruiz, was replaced this Thursday after being in office for less than three years. Instead, in front of the party organization, Beatriz Johnson Urrutia, who served as governor of the eastern province, was named as his replacement.
The change was announced during the Plenary of the Provincial Committee of the Party attended by President Miguel Díaz-Canel. An official statement announced the decision to “free Monteagudo from his responsibility” and included a recognition for his work in “confronting tasks in the political, economic and social order with urgency and creativity.”
After his departure, the official “returns to the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC),” the text explains. Monteagudo had been appointed secretary of the PCC in the province in October 2021, a time that coincided with the worsening of the economic crisis on the Island and the social deterioration.
Several sources consulted by this newspaper point to the increase in violence and insecurity in the streets of Santiago de Cuba as part of the reason for the appointment of Johnson, more knowledgeable in the field and with a long history as a political and partisan cadre.
The substitution was announced during the Plenary of the Provincial Committee of the Party attended by President Miguel Díaz-Canel
A chemical engineer graduate, Johnson, age 54, held seve