Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, one of the last historical commanders of the Cuban Revolution and architect of the repressive apparatus of Castroism, passed away this Sunday at the age of 94.
While the regime bid him farewell with institutional honors, his death revives a confession he made in 2018: he proudly recounted how he carried out sabotage against electrical lines and defaced posters of Batista with tar, exactly the kind of acts for which the Cuban government today condemns its citizens to decades in prison.
The contradiction highlighted by his death arises from an interview that Valdés gave in 2018 to the official journalist Arleen Rodríguez Derivet.
In that testimony, Valdés proudly recounted his sabotage against the Batista dictatorship with a naturalness that is striking today.
"Ciro, Julio, and I would go out in Ciro's car to carry out sabotage, not in Artemisa. In Artemisa, the only thing we did was throw a liter of tar at a large poster of Batista that was there, to tarnish his image," recounted the one who would later become the founder and first head of MININT.
The actions were not limited to posters. Valdés also described how they would throw chains at the power lines to cause blackouts: “Ciro, Julio, and I were going to carry out some sabotage, throwing chains and stuff like that at the lines. Outside of Artemisa; in Caimito, in Guanajay, Bauta...”
It was Fidel Castro himself who ordered him to stop, not for ethical reasons but for strategic ones. According to Valdés's account, Castro said to him: "Don't get involved in politics, don't sabotage... Stay inconspicuous in such a way... We are already recruiting... You will be working for the armed struggle."
Miguel Díaz-Canel reported the death of Valdés and highlighted his historical role, while the state media Granma and Prensa Latina disseminated messages of institutional mourning.
Just 15 days earlier, on June 6, Díaz-Canel had already paid an emotional tribute—his voice shaking—during the ceremony for the 65th anniversary of MININT at the Karl Marx Theater, with Valdés having been absent from the public stage since September 2025.
The last verified appearance of the commander had been in Sancti Spíritus, where he inaugurated a photovoltaic solar park. His extended absence sparked rumors about his health for months, with the regime providing no explanation.
The same regime that celebrates Valdés's sabotage as revolutionary heroism has sentenced Cubans to prison terms of up to 25 years for similar acts following the protests on July 11, 2021.
That same year, Valdés honored individuals identified for repressing the protests in Palma Soriano, and was confronted by protesters shouting "murderer" at him in Santiago de Cuba.
For decades, Valdés was the most feared man in Cuba's security apparatus. He founded MININT in 1961, created the State Security Department and the General Directorate of Intelligence, and led the repression against internal opposition during two terms as Minister of the Interior: 1961-1968 and 1979-1985.
He was the only historical figure of the Revolution who held simultaneous positions in the Political Bureau of the Communist Party and in the Council of State and the Council of Ministers until the time of his death.
Cubans reacted to the news with a division that reflects the two irreconcilable memories of the Island: that of the regime, which bids him farewell as a hero, and that of those who remember him as the architect of decades of repression.
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