Revolutionary Army / Ejercito Revolucionario (ER)
Today, the Ejercito Revolucionario (ER) number about 60,000 regular troops. The ground forces remain primarily armor and artillery units. Their readiness level is low due to severely reduced training. The FAR generally is not capable of mounting effective operations above the battalion level. Most equipment is in storage and unavailable on short notice.
The Military Board of the Army [Consejo Militar del Ejército] analyzes and adopts agreements on questions related to the territorial defense put under his consideration. He is integrated by the Head of the Army, that presides over it; the presidents of the Provincial Defense councils of the territory of the Army, and other members designated by the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces. The Head of the Army, as the President of the Military Board of the Army, is authorized to approve the document that contains the decision of the presidents of the Provincial Defense councils for the territorial defense and its respective plans of preparation, and to dictate to dispositions on the organization and accomplishment of the armed warfare.
The Army includes combat units and security forces, and the organizations and institutions directly subordinated to them. The rest of these ares under the command of the Headquarters of Military districts. In the composition of the Army is structured into ground brigades, tank regiments and infantry battalions, artillery and air defense units of the regular troops and the Military services of Territorial Troops.
From the Eastern Army the Brigade of the Border [Brigada de la Frontera] has the mission to defend the border perimeter with Naval Base of Guantánamo, that the government of the United States maintains in Cuba. The combatants of this unit are selected between the best ones and they accept this mission as volunteers. They constitute the Combative Vanguard "Ramón López Peña", the first Cuban soldier victim, in July of 1964, firings originating assassins of the North American base. A company of women comprises of the Brigade and their members also guard the border perimeter.
Cuba's special operations units are smaller and less proficient than they were a decade ago, but they can still perform selected military and internal security missions. The FAR retains a battalion-size airborne unit and other special operations forces. Special operations training continues, albeit on a smaller scale than in the past.
Military Districts and Sectors
The Armed Forces are organized into three Military Districts: Western Command (Havana and Pinar del Rio provinces), Central Command (Matanzas, Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, and Sancti Spiritus provinces), and Eastern Command (Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo, Granma, Holguin, Las Tunas, Camaguey, and Ciego de Avila provinces). The Isla de la Juventud (Isle of Youth) is an autonomous military region.
The Military District is the territorial grouping of forces and means that is designated for the defense of an operative region. Its headquarters commands of the organizations that are subordinated to him, extending its competition to other formation in agreement with the established thing in the Law of the National defense. It is the military organ subordinated to the head of the army of the respective territories.
For the fulfillment of its missions and tasks of time of peace, the headquarters of the Military district establishes relations of work with the provincial assemblies of the Popular Power to plan, to organize and to control the policy drawn up in relation to the preparation for the defense of the territories. In addition it is authorized to coordinate and to organize with the organs of administration of the provincial assemblies of the Popular Power, the execution of the tasks related to the defense, with the purpose of complimenting the military duties established by the laws and other dispositions on the matter.
For the fulfillment of its functions the military district is integrated by the military control elements of its headquarters, sectors, combat units, as well as other organizations. The military headquarters of the region and sectors assume the functions granted by the law in exceptional situations.
The Military Sector is the territorial grouping of forces and means that is designated for the defense of the municipality. It counts on a headquarters that exerts the unit command of the Military Services of Territorial Troops. The headquarters of the military sector is the organ in charge to coordinate and to organize the measures for the passage of the municipality of time from peace to exceptional situations; the military registry and use of the human potential in the defense; the preparation of the personnel, control units and direction, and the measures of civil defense, as well as the control of troops who are subordinated to him in military time.
History
The armed organization was created to carry out the War of national liberation (1956-1958) against the repressive machinery of the dictatorship that reigned from 1952. Batista's force included reached the 80,000 troops of air, sea and earth, equipped and advised by the North American Military Mission in Cuba. The Ejército Rebelde [Rebellious Army] formed from the survivors of the expedition of the yacht Granma, the 2 of December of 1956. In that date the Day of the Revolutionary Armed Forces is celebrated.
The beginning of this stage of the fight was marked by a serious misfortune. In the place known by Joy of Pío, in the then province of Oriente, the expeditionary ones just disembarked were surprised, the 5th December, by enemy forces that caused the total dispersion of the inexperienced revolutionary army. The fight in the Sierra Maestra [Masterful Mountain] range began again and after two years the Armed Forces of the tyranny had been defeated in all the line.
Such a feat was possible thanks to the unshakeable decision to win and the correct strategy of fight of the rebellious headquarters headed by the Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, and mainly by the firm received support of the popular masses of workers, farmers and students.
The small guerrilla column grew with the incorporation of settlers of the zone and the reinforcement of combatants of the cities. They appeared initially new columns, first of them put to the orders of Ernesto commander Che Guevara, and more ahead Raul entrusted itself to the commanders Castro Ruz and Juan Almeida In front Forest the opening of II the Eastern "Frank Country" and III In front the Eastern "Mario Muñoz", respectively. Once defeated the offensive of the army of the tyranny in the summer of 1958, the Rebellious Army Commander-in-Chief decided that the moment had arrived for extending the war to other territories. New fronts were created and the invasion to the West by two columns commanded by Ernesto commanders began Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos, together with the rebellious offensive in the Eastern region of the country.
When finalizing the war, the structures, composition and equipment of the units of the Rebellious Army had different characteristics, due to the different degree from development reached in each territory. Columns integrated by companies that were composed as well by squads, and columns formed simply by squads existed. Some fronts had, in addition, the organization of captainships, and in many existed independent detachments, subordinates directly to the headquarters of the fronts and those of the columns or single to these last ones.
The following words of the Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz summarizes the roll of the Rebellious Army in the Cuban Revolution: "the Rebellious Army was the soul of the Revolution. From his victorious arms it emerged frees, beautiful, mighty and invincible the new mother country. Their soldiers vindicated the spilled generous blood in all the fights by independence and with the hers own one they laid the foundations the present socialist of Cuba. The arms snatched to the opresores in épica fight gave them to the town and with the town they were fused, to be since then and for always the uniformed town."
Only three organizations have sufficient institutional strength to pose a potential challenge to the leadership: the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), and the Interior Ministry (MININT). In June 1989, the regime demonstrated its strength as it moved publicly to try to convict one of Cuba's most revered and decorated military heroes, Division General Arnaldo Ochoa Sánchez. Ochoa was found guilty on drug charges and summarily executed along with three other officers, including Colonel Antonio de la Guardia, a MININT insider. This would have been inconceivable in most Latin American countries.
