Castro's Defense Minister Dies

BY: THE HILL

General Julio Casas Regueiro, who replaced current dictator Raul Castro as Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (MINFAR) and oversaw the Cuban military's lucrative economic conglomerates, died today at the age of 75.

This now raises the important question of who Raul Castro will choose to replace this key confidant, for the MINFAR is undoubtedly the backbone of the Cuban dictatorship's economic and power structure.

With General Juan Almeida's death in 2009 and his brother, Fidel, ailing -- is Raul running out of people to trust?

Or will he succumb to nepotism, with son Alejandro Castro Espin or son-in-law Luis Alberto Rodriguez Lopez-Callejas?