Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel announced Sunday on social media that Ramiro Valdes, a celebrated figure of the Cuban revolution and one of Fidel Castro’s earliest companions in arms, has passed away at the age of 94. No cause of death was given.
Valdes carried the honorary distinctions of “Hero of the Republic” and “Commander of the Revolution” and served as a senior member of the Cuban Communist Party’s powerful Political Bureau until 2019. He was a fixture of Cuban government leadership for more than six decades following Castro’s rise to power in 1959.
Diaz-Canel expressed deep grief in a post on X, writing that Valdes’ death “hurts deeply, like that of a father.” The Cuban president closed his tribute with the words, “Until victory, always, Commander!”
Born on April 28, 1932, Valdes was only 21 years old when he stood beside Fidel Castro during the 1953 assault on the Moncada barracks — the bold attack that ignited the uprising against the regime of Fulgencio Batista.
After going into exile with Castro in Mexico, Valdes was among the 82 men who boarded the yacht Granma and sailed to Cuba in 1956 in an effort to reignite the revolution. Only 12 of those men survived the journey and its immediate aftermath.
Among those survivors were Fidel Castro, who died in 2016; his younger brother Raul Castro, who later became president and head of the Communist Party; and Argentine revolutionary Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, who was killed in Bolivia in 1967 while attempting to spark an insurrection there.
Valdes joined the Castro brothers in the Sierra Maestra mountains of eastern Cuba, where he served as Guevara’s deputy commander. He fought alongside Guevara in the pivotal Battle of Santa Clara during the final days of the revolution, just before Batista fled Cuba on January 1, 1959.
Following the revolution’s success, Valdes took charge of the newly established security agency under Fidel Castro’s government.
Much like Castro and Guevara, Valdes carried a certain personal magnetism and was known for wearing olive-green military fatigues even in government settings. He maintained the Leon Trotsky-style goatee he had worn since his revolutionary days and was known as a fitness enthusiast who kept up an exercise routine well into his 80s.
Throughout his career, Valdes held a wide range of senior government posts, including interior minister, vice minister of defense, minister of information and communications, and vice president.
Even as Raul Castro worked to transition power from his so-called “historic generation” to a younger leadership — including handing the presidency to 60-year-old Diaz-Canel in 2018 — Valdes continued to serve in key roles. Most recently, he served as deputy prime minister with responsibility for addressing the island’s ongoing energy crisis.
Valdes frequently appeared in military uniform alongside Diaz-Canel, urging Cubans to conserve electricity, reduce demand, and maintain their “revolutionary” spirit during the country’s persistent power shortages.
Throughout his life, Valdes remained unwavering in his commitment to the revolution and Cuba’s one-party system, even during the nation’s most trying times.
At the 61st anniversary commemoration of the Moncada attack in 2014, Valdes offered a reminder of the revolution’s foundation: “We cannot forget we arrived here thanks to the unity of the people and their trust in the revolution.”
“We must preserve this unity above all things because we are aware this fight has not ended,” he added.
