Mexico City, Mexico — Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, among the last living commanders of the Cuban revolution and the architect of the island’s surveillance apparatus, died June 21 at the age of 94.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel broke the news on X without offering details. State media confirmed his death. 

The Cuban president said it felt like losing a father, and praised Valdés’s “absolute loyalty” to “Fidel and Raúl”, and to the revolution. 

Nicaragua’s president Daniel Ortega also posted a tribute, praising Valdés’s commitment to the revolution. 

Reactions on Cuban social media were divided. While some mourned his passing, others expressed relief or celebrated openly. 

Valdés had joined the Moncada assault at 21, fighting alongside Fidel Castro. He was later part of the Granma expedition in 1956, which launched the guerrilla campaign against Batista in the Sierra Maestra, and fought under Che Guevara at the Battle of Santa Clara. 

All these credentials made him one of Castro´s most trustworthy men.

After 1959, he served twice as Minister of the Interior, founded the State security service known as G2 –  modelled on the Soviet KGB –  and held positions as Vice President of the Councils of State and Ministers, and member of the Communist Party’s Political Bureau.

Few figures in Cuban politics have been so politically durable as Valdés. By 2009, he held the position of vice-president of the Council of Ministers and was considered the third most powerful man in the Communist government.

His career had its ruptures. In 1986, a dispute with Castro cost him the interior ministry and his place in the inner circle. He returned in 2003 with a seat on the Council of State and later headed the Information Technology and Communications Ministry. 

That was not his only friction with Castro’s leadership, but he managed to come back following each rough patch. 

Through G2 and MININT, Valdés oversaw surveillance, arbitrary detentions and torture practices that defined the regime’s repressive apparatus for decades. 

He was also a formidable opponent for U.S. intelligence agencies that tried for decades, without success, to topple the regime. 

He became known by several nicknames among Cubans: Charco de Sangre (Pool of blood) or El Carnicero de Artemisa (Artemisa’s Butcher).

Many of the human rights violations in which he was involved are documented in the book “They gave everything for Cuba” authored by the Cuban activist Mignon Medrano.

In his final months, Valdés had largely stepped back from public life. He was last seen in October 2025, at an event marking the Communist Party’s 60th anniversary. 

His death leaves Raúl Castro as one of the few remaining figures from the founding generation of the Cuban revolution.

Featured image: Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, Cuba’s longtime intelligence chief, died on June 21 at 94.

Image credit: Radio 26