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With an affectionate and almost romantic tone, Miguel Díaz-Canel paid a posthumous tribute on Facebook to Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, the man who founded the repressive apparatus of the Cuban state and who passed away on Sunday, June 21, at the age of 94.
The leader wrote under the hashtag #PorSiempreRamiro: "It's hard to imagine the road ahead without his constant and clear support, without that push that came from seeing him at the forefront of the most complex missions, with the authority and nobility of a fighter who never allowed himself to rest, not even at 94 years old."
It was not the first time that Díaz-Canel used sentimental language to bid farewell to one of the pillars of the dictatorship.
Upon announcing Valdés' death on Sunday, June 21, he wrote on X that his passing "saddens deeply, like that of a father."
The contrast between that official mourning and the popular memory of Valdés could not have been more striking.
Known among his detractors as "Puddle of Blood" and "the Butcher of Artemisa," Valdés served as Minister of the Interior since the founding of the MININT in 1961. He was a key figure in the establishment of State Security and Cuban intelligence services and maintained ties with the Soviet security apparatus.
During his tenure at the MININT, repressive policies were also promoted, such as the UMAP, forced labor camps where homosexuals, religious individuals, dissidents, and other citizens deemed "undesirable" by the regime were interned.
In August 2021, at the age of 89, he personally decorated officials from MININT who had repressed the demonstrators of July 11 in Palma Soriano.
Díaz-Canel's post provoked ironic and critical comments from Cubans on social media.
Joel Arencibia responded, "What’s hard to imagine is that you still breathe with SOUTHCOM and the DELTA FORCE so close."
Reina Martínez pointed out, "It seems that now it will be the turn of more people to pay up because someone else has left without paying what they owe."
Brian Palomino celebrated: "One less communist, the generation that plunged Cuba into total misery is fading away."
Yotuel Bermúdez was more direct: “And there are still people who defend these billionaires, who deceived the people for almost 68 years. A whole lifetime. They see the people dying of hunger, misery, and need. They don't care. I always wonder how much longer this will go on. Cuban people, open your eyes!”
Meanwhile, the regime deployed all the trappings of official mourning.
On Tuesday, June 23, Raúl Castro led the honor guard for Valdés at the MINFAR headquarters in Havana, where his decorations and the Cuban flag that presided over the transfer of Che Guevara's remains from Bolivia to Santa Clara in 1997 were displayed.
The regime declared an official mourning through Presidential Decree 1247, with flags at half-mast, and Valdés' remains will be transferred this Thursday, June 25, to Santa Clara for interment in the Mausoleum of the Front of Las Villas, according to his wish to rest alongside his comrades and near Che Guevara.
With Valdés' death, the so-called "historic generation" of the Revolution is reduced to three figures: Raúl Castro, Guillermo García Frías, and Machado Ventura, while the Cuban-American congresspersons María Elvira Salazar and Carlos Giménez publicly expressed their regret that Valdés died without facing justice for crimes against humanity.
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