Cuba promotes official who has led market-style reforms

Cuban President Raul Castro granted more authority to the man who has led the campaign to modernize Cuba's socialist economy, naming Marino Murillo as economy and planning minister on Thursday, the government said.

Former Economy Minister Adel Yzquierdo, 69, was demoted from minister to deputy minister but will retain his position on the powerful 14-member Political Bureau of the ruling Communist Party, the government said in a statement.

Murillo, 53, also a member of the politburo and one of Cuba's vice presidents, takes over as head of the ministry in an attempt to give more impetus to the market-oriented reforms that Castro has been implementing since taking over for his ailing brother Fidel Castro in 2008.

"It is necessary to take the process of modernizing the economy and planning to a higher level," the statement said.

Marino will retain his position as chief of the commission charged with implementing the reforms, the statement said.