HAVANA - President Raul Castro on Monday fired his influential Transport Minister Jorge Luis Sierra, a member of the policymaking Politburo, and accepted the resignation of another minister in a jolt to his cabinet, a government statement said.

"The Council of State at the proposal of its President (Raul Castro) agreed to release (Sierra) from his duties" "due to errors made on the job," according to a statement read out on state television in the Americas' only communist nation.

Sierra, 48, a mechanical engineer by training, is a member of the Cuban Communist Party's Politburo and Secretariat. He was replaced as deputy chief of the Cabinet by General Antonio Lusson, 80, a former transport chief.

The new Transport chief was named as Cesar Ignacio Arocha, 51, a transport company executive with a military background.

The government also accepted the resignation of Sugar Industry Minister Luis Manuel Avila, 58, as "it acknowledged the problems with his performance which were discussed with him," the statement added.

Avila was replaced by Orlando Garcia, 53, a former deputy minister in the sugar industry.

The government statement did not detail the nature of Sierra or Avila's "errors" and said they would be reassigned "other duties."

Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved.