Jorge Villar Fuente

“Jorge Villar Fuente, colonel of the Cuban army (Guardia Popular). Very respected even outside his country thanks to his Olympic past, he is one of the closest men to Castro who doesn’t hide how valuable a counselor he has.  By many accounts, he will be expected to accomplish the difficult task of creating the future of the Cuban nation between Castro’s utopia on one and, and dangers from the capitalist world on the other hand. As extremely rigorous and gifted with diplomatic qualities, he was the main supporter of the first papal visit of Benedict XVI to Cuba, and the meeting of the latter with the ‘Lider Maximo’. His discretion is often in contrast with the excessive loquacity of Raul Castro. On a recent public occasion, Fidel reproached him in a good natured way for being so excessively taciturn, and Fuente responded shortly with one old Cuban saying: ‘El pez muere por la boca... (The fish dies by its mouth....)’."