Related videos:
The Cuban regime declared an official mourning this Monday following the death of Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, one of the last historical commanders of the Revolution and the main architect of the repressive apparatus of the Cuban state, who passed away on Sunday at the age of 94.
The , signed by Miguel Díaz-Canel on the same day of his death and published this Monday in the Official Gazette, declares a period of mourning for June 23 from 6:00 a.m. to midnight.
During that period, the Cuban flag must be flown at half-mast on public buildings and military institutions across the country, as stipulated by the decree.
The ministers of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, the Interior, and Foreign Affairs were charged with its implementation.
In the text of the decree, the regime described Valdés as a "hero of the Republic of Cuba and of Labor" and listed his revolutionary credentials: participant in the attack on the Moncada Barracks in 1953, expeditionary on the Granma yacht in 1956, fighter in the Sierra Maestra, and second-in-command of the invading column No. 8 "Ciro Redondo" alongside Che Guevara in the Battle of Santa Clara.
Born on April 28, 1932, in Artemisa, Valdés was the first head of the Ministry of the Interior (MININT), founded in 1961, and the creator of the State Security Department and the General Intelligence Directorate, institutions that have maintained the political control of the regime for over six decades.
He held the position of Minister of the Interior during two terms —1961-1968 and 1979-1985— and was also Vice President of the Councils of State and Ministers, as well as Minister of Information and Communications from 2006 to 2011, a period during which he oversaw the state control of telecommunications and internet access on the island.
Journalistic investigations indicate that Valdés maintained structural ties with the Soviet KGB, turning Cuba into an intelligence platform for Moscow in the Western Hemisphere.
To his detractors—opponents, exiles, and Cuban-American lawmakers—he was responsible for the internal surveillance machinery and political repression, earning him the nicknames "Blood Pond" and "the Butcher of Artemisa."
The reactions from Cuban-American congressmembers were strong. Representative María Elvira Salazar wrote: "Another one dies and cannot pay on earth for all the damage they did," and added, "In hell alongside Fidel."
The representative Carlos A. Giménez expressed regret that the "lackey Ramiro Valdés passed away without facing justice for countless crimes against humanity, torture, and atrocities against the Cuban people."
Valdés had been away from public life for months without an official explanation. His last verifiable appearance was in October 2025, at the events for the 60th anniversary of the first Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba alongside Raúl Castro, the only surviving member of the founding core of Castroism who remains alive and politically influential at the age of 95.
Filed under: