Marino Alberto Murillo Jorge

Since 2009 he has served as Minister of Economy and Planning of the Republic of Cuba and is the main driver of the economic changes that will begin to be implemented in 2011 in Cuba. He subsequently returned to hold this position in the 2011-2016 period.

Bachelor's degree in Economics, member of the PCC. He has completed several postgraduate courses in the field of Economics and is a graduate of the National Defense College.

In 2021 Marino Murillo is appointed president of the Tabacuba Business Group.

With more than 20 years linked to the economic sphere, where he has held various positions from the ground level, including Director of Audit and Economics of the Ministry of Food Industry, as well as Vice Minister of Economy and Planning and Minister of Domestic Trade, at the time of his appointment.

A low-profile senior official, Marino Murillo Jorge stands out for his youth and the enormous responsibility he bears: to guide the economic changes designed to free the economy and, at the same time, defend socialist Cuba.

"He seems to be the czar of the reform process, a leader of the new generation that analyzes and develops policies, explains them to the public and pushes them through the bureaucracies"

A child of the post-revolutionary generation, short in stature, overweight, fond of XXL size guayaberas, glasses that he constantly adjusts on his nose, Murillo came into the world in 1961 while the revolution was consolidating itself and Fidel Castro, rifle held high, announced the socialist character of the Cuban political system.

Murillo was unknown until 2009, when he was appointed Minister of Economy and Planning and Vice President of the Council of Ministers.

With a more technical than political career, Murillo became the helmsman of the ship that Castro hopes to steer through the waters of reforms but with the challenge of not losing the achievements of the revolution in key areas such as health, education and care for vulnerable sectors.

"The Cuban people saw him for a day and a half on television while he explained and defended the new policies in the legislature, sometimes exchanging with Raúl Castro," said Peters when recalling Murillo's intervention, then still minister, before the deputies of the National Assembly (equivalent to parliament). "He addressed difficult issues such as layoffs and the reduction of subsidies, always with the firmness of a man who has political support from above."

The deputies questioned him then on such disparate topics as transportation, environment, tourism and the ration book, one of the main subsidies that the government plans to eliminate.

Murillo answered directly, straightforwardly and with more technical than political arguments using simple language. "This seems complicated, but it's not that complicated, whoever has to pay will learn it instantly," he said when questioned about the taxes paid by thousands of self-employed workers who emerge each month under the reforms.

He also said that "the State will regulate the relationship with people in fundamental matters," in allusion to the presumably less interventionist role it will play in the economy, while insisting on the need for an "efficient socialist state enterprise."

Very few details of his life are public knowledge, including basic information such as where he lives, whether he is married or not and whether he has children.

He has a bachelor's degree in economics, was an auditor and area director at the Ministry of Food Industry before beginning his public rise at the helm of the Domestic Trade portfolio, in 2006, a position he held until 2009.

It was in that position when, for the first time, Murillo was on the minds of Cubans as he replaced Bárbara Castillo, removed amid rumors of administrative irregularities.

The media issued statements from the official in a forceful tone assuring that he was willing to count "the sacks one by one" to prevent petty theft in the wholesale warehouses of the Ministry of Domestic Trade.

It is also known that he served as a professor at the Central University of Las Villas, in the center of the country, and attended courses in the Soviet Union. His entry into the PC dates from the beginning of the 1990s, although previously he developed activities in the Union of Young Communists. Public documents also mention that he studied at the military National Defense College.

He has an image of pragmatism and frankness that has been maintained all these years, confirmed by those who had some personal interaction with him in the amazingly sporadic encounters with journalists or businessmen.

In 2009 he moved to a strategic position: Minister of Economy and Planning, a position he held until 2011.

That same year he entered the Council of State, the highest legislative body when Parliament is in recess.

In March 2011 he was appointed supervisor of the Minister of Economy in his capacity as vice president of the country and worked fully in the implementation of the policies that update the model and the reforms.

This places him at the center of decision-making in the future.