Cuba announces death of revolutionary veteran Ramiro Valdes at 94

Cuba has announced the death of Ramiro Valdes, a veteran revolutionary commander and former interior minister, at the age of 94. President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on X that Valdes had died, describing him as a figure of "exemplary dedication to the service of the homeland." The announcement places one of the last surviving members of Cuba's revolutionary leadership back at the centre of public attention. Valdes was closely associated with the Castro brothers and was among the commanders involved in the Cuban revolution.

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According to the supplied report, he took part in the 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks alongside Fidel Castro and later fought with Ernesto "Che" Guevara before the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista in 1958. Diaz-Canel also said Valdes had shown "absolute fidelity" to Fidel and Raul Castro, underlining the political symbolism attached to his death. The report says Valdes later became a senior figure in the Cuban Communist Party, the country's only legal political party.

He twice served as minister of the interior and also held the post of vice president. During his time in government, he helped establish the G2 state security intelligence service, which became a central part of Cuba's domestic security apparatus. The article describes the service as closely modelled on the Soviet KGB and used to monitor and suppress dissent.

His death comes at a sensitive moment for Cuba's leadership, just days after the Communist Party approved a package of free-market measures. Those changes are described as the largest overhaul of the country's economic strategy since the revolution. They are intended to decentralise the state-run economy and create more room for private business, imports, exports and private banking, while also allowing investment by Cubans abroad.

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The timing gives the announcement added political weight because Valdes represented continuity with the revolutionary generation that shaped modern Cuba. He was one of the last surviving leaders from that period, alongside Raul Castro, who is 95. Fidel Castro died in 2016 at the age of 90, leaving fewer living figures from the original revolutionary leadership.

The report also links the death to Cuba's wider economic strain, which Diaz-Canel has blamed on internal obstacles and external pressure. It says the situation has worsened amid an ongoing fuel blockade, although the supplied material does not provide further detail on that point. What remains unclear is whether any official mourning events or state funeral arrangements will be announced, and how the government will frame Valdes's legacy in the coming days.

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