Orlando Borrego

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Orlando Borrego
Orlando Borrego speaking about Che Guevara at Liverpool John Moores University.

Orlando Borrego (born 1936, Holguín, Cuba) is an Cuban economist, writer and former guerrilla who worked with Ché Guevara during the Cuban Revolution.

1 Biography
2 Published Works
3 Bibliography
4 External Links

[edit] Biography

Orlando Borrego was born in 1936 to a peasant family which later indentified with the Partido Ortodoxo. His father was a taxi driver and his mother a teacher. He was sent out to work aged only fourteen, but he also attended night classes in accountancy. In 1952, after Fulgencio Batista led a coup against Cuba's democratic government, he became a supporter of the 26th of July Movement.

In October 1958 Borrego joined the 26th of July Movement's rebel army in the Escambray Mountains, which was under the command of Ché Guevara. By the revolution's triumph in January 1959, Borrego had reached the rank of First Lieutenant.

Immediately after the revolution Borrego worked alongside Guevara at the La Cabaña fortress in Havana. He worked as Head of the Military Economic Board and also served as a prosecutor at the trials of several former Batista regime members. In late 1959 Guevara was appointed Head of the Department of Industrialisation within the National Institute of Agrarian Reform (INRA). Guevara decided to bring three individuals with him, including Borrego. Borrego served as Guevara's deputy until 1964, when he was appointed to the crucial position of Minister of Sugar.

After leaving the Sugar Ministry in 1968, Borrego travelled to the Soviet Union and obtained a doctorate in Economics from the Soviet Academy of Sciences.

Currently Borrego serves as an advisor to the Cuban Ministry of Transport. He has also embarked on several speaking tours of Venezuela and Western Europe, including a large tour of the United Kingdom in 2008, which was organised by Rock Around the Blockade.