President Raul Castro has named Army Corps General Leopoldo Cintra Frias minister of the Cuban Armed Revolutionary Forces (FAR), the government says. Frias served previously as first vice minister of FAR and replaced Army Corps General Julio Casas Regueiro, who passed away on Sept. 3. A government release said Tuesday that Frias is a hero of Cuba and a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party (CCP). The release said Frias, when being a young man, joined the guerrillas led by Fidel Castro that ousted dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959. Frias has held important positions in the Cuban army and fulfilled internationalist missions, the release said.