Cuba News ( Cuba Seeking to Attract More Women to Military Service )

HAVANA – The UJC, the youth wing of Cuba’s ruling Communist Party, called for increasing the number of women in military service, the official daily Juventud Rebelde reported Tuesday.

“Eighteen percent of Cubans today are over 60 and the forecasts for an aging of the population by 2030 demand that we reconsider more forcefully the incorporation of women into the Women’s Volunteer Military Service,” UJC First Secretary Yuniasky Crespo said.

She commented during a plenary meeting of the UJC national committee at which the issue was debated in the presence of deputy armed forces minister Gen. Alvaro Lopez Miera.

The general supported the UJC’s plan and said that Cuba cannot give itself “the luxury of only men being those who are (militarily) prepared.”

During the debate, several UJC leaders discussed the need to involve families in the task to a greater extent, showing them the conditions in the military units to reassure parents who might be averse to having their daughters sign up.

More than 3,900 women have entered the women’s branch of military service since 2008 in Cuba.

All Cuban men must perform at least 14 months of military service. EFE