Julio Casas Regueiro

Who was Julio Casas Regueiro?

Corps General Julio Casas Regueiro was a Cuban politician. He was a Vice-President of the Council of State and the Minister of Defense.

Previously, Regueiro was the Deputy Minister of MINFAR in charge of Economic Activity and was in charge of Cuba's holding company, GAE SA, which is the holding company for the commercial activities belonging to MINFAR, the Cuban Armed Forces Ministry. It manages much of Cuba's lucrative tourist industry along with agriculture, import-export businesses, retail stores and other enterprises.

On February 24, 2008, he was named as one of Cuba's Vice-Presidents and as Minister of Defense, succeeding long-time Defense Minister Raúl Castro, who was named as President of Cuba on the same day. On this occasion, Castro said: "I have always had criticism for generals in our armed forces, but in 50 years I don't recall having ever criticized General Julio Casas Regueiro". His older brother was Senén Casas Regueiro.

On September 3, 2011, he died of heart failure.