Ramiro Valdes, lauded as hero of Cuban revolution, dies at 94
The longtime revolutionary helped build Cuba’s feared security apparatus and remained a key figure in government until his death, officials said.
- On Sunday, Cuban revolutionary Ramiro Valdes Menendez died at 94, President Miguel Diaz-Canel announced on social media. Valdes was a founding member of the Cuban Communist Party and held the honorary titles "Hero of the Republic" and "Commander of the Revolution."
- Valdes was just 21 when he joined the 1953 Moncada barracks assault, later becoming one of only 12 survivors of the 1956 Granma expedition. This campaign launched a guerrilla war that ousted dictator Fulgencio Batista.
- As interior minister, Valdes established the state security intelligence service and claimed in a rare 2018 interview that "there was no one who moved without security knowing it, and that allowed us to infiltrate counter-revolutionary organizations." He served twice as interior minister under Fidel and Raul Castro.
- In February 2010, Valdes spent several months in Venezuela, where the opposition alleged he led intelligence operations under then-President Hugo Chavez. Venezuela provided Cuba with heavily-subsidized oil in return for intelligence operatives and bodyguards.
- Diaz-Canel eulogized Valdes, stating his life was marked by "absolute loyalty to the governments of Fidel and Raul and to his struggle companions." Valdes had served as second-in-command of a guerrilla column led by Argentine revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara.
58 Articles
58 Articles
He was the second of Che Guevara and founded the formidable Cuban intelligence services. A mischievous personage of words, but feared and inescapable in the state system, he also held the position of minister of the interior during the episodes of strong confrontation with the United States.
Along with Raul Castro, who turned 95, he was one of the last survivors of the "Granma" mission on December 2, 1956, which was the starting point of the Cuban revolution.
Cuban Vice Prime Minister Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, one of the historical figures of the island’s revolution, died this Sunday at 94 years of age in Havana, state media have reported this Sunday. “With deep pain the leadership of the Party, the State and the Government communicate to our people that in the morning hours of this Sunday, June 21, the historic commander of the Ramiro Valdés Menéndez Revolution, hero of the Republic of Cuba and of lab…
"The death of Revolutionary Commander Ramiro Valdes is a great blow to me, as if my father had passed away," Diaz-Canel wrote on X. Furthermore, Valdes was one of the key figures in the Cuban Revolution, which, under Fidel Castro's leadership, led to the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship in 1959. As early as 1953, he participated in the unsuccessful attack on the Moncada barracks, considered the beginning of the revolutionary struggl…
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 41% of the sources lean Left
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
