José Ramón Fernández Álvarez (November 4, 1923 – January 6, 2019) was a

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

leader who was a vice-president of the

Council of Ministers Council of Ministers is a traditional name given to the supreme Executive (government), executive organ in some governments. It is usually equivalent to the term Cabinet (government), cabinet. The term Council of State is a similar name that also m ...

Pre-Revolution life

Fernández Alvarez was born in

Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains t ...

, where he studied his first and second education. In 1947 he graduated from the Cadet School of Cuba and also from the Artillery School as well as from other courses of the General Staff in Cuba and at

Fort Sill Fort Sill is a United States Army post north of Lawton, Oklahoma, about 85 miles (137 km) southwest of Oklahoma City. It covers almost . The fort was first built during the Indian Wars. It is designated as a National Historic Landmark a ...

in the USA. From March 10, 1952, he took part in different conspiracy activities and movements against

Fulgencio Batista Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (born Rubén Zaldívar; January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who played a dominant role in Cuban politics from his initial rise to power as part of the 1933 Revolt of t ...

's tyranny with different military and political groups, until 1956 when he was caught when the conspiracy movement called "Los puros" was discovered. He was judged and sentenced to prison at Presidio Modelo on the Isla de Pinos (Isle of Pines) until the Castro brothers' victory over Batista on January 1, 1959.

Cuban Revolution and beyond

From 1959, as a member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Fernández took part in various mobilizations, both productive as well as for the defense of the country. He also carried out other tasks of the Cuban Revolution both in Cuba and abroad. At the time of the

Bay of Pigs Invasion The Bay of Pigs Invasion (, sometimes called or after the Playa Girón) was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in April 1961 by the United States of America and the Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front ...

on 17 April 1961, he was director of militia training and based at Managua near Havana. He was sometimes referred to as ' El Gallego' like his colleague Manuel Piñeiro. Before dawn that day,

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

ordered him to command the many battalions of militia and regular army troops engaged in fighting the invading forces of

Brigade 2506 Brigade 2506 (Brigada Asalto 2506) was a CIA-sponsored group of Cuban exiles formed in 1960 to attempt the military overthrow of the Cuban government headed by Fidel Castro. It carried out the abortive Bay of Pigs Invasion landings in Cuba ...

. Late on 19 April 1961, he was among Cuban government forces who finally broke through to Playa Giron and forced the surrender and dispersal of invading troops. He was promoted to the rank of Capitan in 1959, to

Commandant Commandant ( or ; ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ...

in 1961 and to Brigade General of the reserve in 1966. He graduated from the Higher War School in 1964. From 1959 on he was in charge of different responsibilities and positions, among which there were; Director of the Cadet School of the Rebel Army; Chief of the Direction of Combat Preparation of the General Staff of FAR (initials for Revolutionary Armed Forces in Spanish) until 1968; Deputy Minister of FAR until 1970; First Deputy Minister of Education until 1972; Minister of Education from 1972 until 1990 and vice-president of the Council of Ministers from 1978 to March 2012.

Political life

He represented the Cuban government at the investiture of presidents in several Latin American countries and at other governmental events. He was a member of the executive committee of the

Pan American Sports Organization Panam Sports, officially the Pan American Sports Organization (), is an international organization which represents the current 41 National Olympic Committees of the American continents. It is affiliated with the International Olympic Committee ...

. Fernández Álvarez took part in the seven Congresses of the Cuban Communist Party and beginning in 1975 was a member of the Central Committee. At the third congress of the Cuban Communist Party, he was elected as a Substitute Member of the Political Bureau. Fernandez was a deputy to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

from 1976 until his death and a Member of the Council of State from 1981 until 1993.

Other organizational roles

Fernández chaired the Organizing Committee of the XIV

Central American and Caribbean Games The Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC or CACGs) are a multi-sport regional championship event, held quadrennial (once every four years), typically in the middle (even) year between Summer Olympics. The games are for 32 countries and ...

, held in

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

in Havana in 1991. He was also the chairman of the Organizing Committee of the VI Athletics World Cup that took place in Havana in 1992. From 1997 until 2018 he was the President of the

Cuban Olympic Committee The Cuban Olympic Committee () is the organization that represents Cuban Sportsperson, athletes in the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Pan American Games and the Central American and Caribbean Games. It was created in Havana in 1926; h ...

. He was the chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Scientific–Academic Conference "Giron, 40 years later", which took place in March 2001 and of the International Conference "The Missile Crisis, a political vision 40 years later" in October 2002. Fernandez was Emeritus Professor of the Pedagogical Higher Institute "Enrique José Varona".

Personal life

Fernández married Asela de los Santos, a fellow revolutionary leader. She was a cofounder and the secretary general of the

Federation of Cuban Women The Federation of Cuban Women () (FMC) was established in 1948 by a group of activists including Mirta Aguirre, María Argüelles, Edith García Buchaca, Ana M. Hidalgo, Celia Machado, Candelaria Rodríguez, Caridad Sánchez, Cipriana Vidaurreta, a ...

(FMC) and served as Deputy Minister, then First Minister of Education in the government of the Communist Party of Cuba.

Acknowledgements

In recognition of his work he was awarded several medals, among them the title of Hero of the Republic of Cuba.

Notes

References

*Fernandez, Jose Ramon. 2001. Bay of Pigs: Washington's First Military Defeat in the Americas. Pathfinder *Rodriguez, Juan Carlos. 1999. Bay of Pigs and the CIA. Ocean Press Melbourne. *Thomas, Hugh. 1971, 1986. ''The Cuban Revolution''. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. London. (Shortened version of ''Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom'', includes all history 1952–1970) *Wyden, Peter. 1979. Bay of Pigs - The Untold Story. Simon and Schuster. New York.

External links

CubaNow Magazine