Ramiro Valdes, one of the last revolutionaries in Cuba, has died at the age of 94 | Political Affairs

Valdes was a close friend of the Castro brothers and helped acquire the most popular Cuban intelligence equipment.

Ramiro Valdes, the head of Cuba’s Communist Party and the country’s most prominent technology developer, has died at the age of 94, according to the country’s president.

Writing on X Sunday, Miguel Diaz-Canel compared Valdes to a father, while he praised his “exemplary dedication to national service”.

Valdes was among the last leaders of the gang, along with the 95-year-old Raúl Castro. He was also a close friend of Fidel Castro, who died in 2016 at the age of 90.

“Everything in the life of Leader Ramiro was marked by his absolute loyalty to the leadership of #Fidel and #Raúl, to his fellow fighters, and to the Moncada Program, which he defended,” Diaz-Canel said.

He also spoke of the revolutionary beliefs of Cuba, which were mentioned after the failed 1953 Moncada Barracks attempt to overthrow the country’s leader at the time, Fulgencio Batista.

Valdes took part in the coup with Fidel Castro and was later a military leader, fighting with Argentina’s Ernesto “Che” Guevara, before the overthrow of Batista in 1958.

He also became a senior member of the Cuban Communist Party, the country’s only political party, and twice served as Minister of the Interior and once as Vice President.

While in government, he helped establish the notorious G2 intelligence agency, which closely followed Russia’s KGB, monitoring and combating domestic terrorism while monitoring the country’s perceived enemies outside the country.

Economic changes

The announcement of his death comes just days after the Communist Party of Cuba to be accepted a series of free trade measures, which represent a major overhaul of the country’s economic system since its revolution.

These measures were implemented to improve the economy of the Cuban government, create more space for private businesses, exports and imports without government representation and free hiring.

The package also allows for the approval of private banks and the funds of Cubans abroad.

Diaz-Canel defended the plan, which has been approved by Raul Castro, saying that internal obstacles, as well as external problems, were the reason for the island nation’s economic crisis.

This has come to a head amid the ongoing oil embargo by the administration of US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to intervene to topple the Communist regime.