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

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

leader who was a vice-president of the

Council of Ministers A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

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 (136.8 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 ...

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 served as the elected president of Cuba from 1940 to 1944 and as its U.S.-backed military dictator ...

'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 The Presidio Modelo was a "model prison" with panopticon design, built on the Isla de Pinos ("Isle of Pines"), now the Isle of Youth, Isla de la Juventud ("Isle of Youth"), in Cuba. It is located in the suburban quarter of Chacón, Nueva Gerona ...

on the

Isla de Pinos Isla de la Juventud (; en, Isle of Youth) is the second-largest Cuban island (after Cuba's mainland) and the seventh-largest island in the West Indies (after mainland Cuba itself, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, and Andro ...

(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 ''Invasión de Playa Girón'' or ''Batalla de Playa Girón'' after the Playa Girón) was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in 1961 by Cuban exiles, covertly fina ...

on 17 April 1961, he was director of militia training and based at Managua near Havana. He was sometimes referred to as '

El Gallego El Gallego in Spanish means 'The Galician', but Cubans apply it to anyone likened to Spanish working class immigrants, hence it is often combined with given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal ...

' like his colleague

Manuel Piñeiro Manuel Piñeiro Losada (14 March 1933 - 11 March 1998), also known as Commander Barbarroja (''es: "red beard"'') was a Cuban political and military figure, a leader of the Cuban Revolution, and, between 1961 and 1964, the first head of the Direcc ...

. Before dawn that day,

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...

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 on 17 A ...

. 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.Wyden (1979), p.249 He was promoted to the rank of

Capitan Capitan and Kapitan are equivalents of the English Captain in other European languages. Capitan, Capitano, and Kapitan may also refer to: Places in the United States * Capitan, Louisiana, an unincorporated community *Capitan, New Mexico, a villag ...

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 ran ...

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 The Panam Sports (Formerly Pan American Sports Organization; es, link=no, Organización Deportiva Panamericana; pt, link=no, Organizacão Depórtiva Panamericana; french: Organisation Sportive PanAméricaine) is an international organization whi ...

. Fernández Álvarez took part in the seven Congresses of the

Cuban Communist Party The Communist Party of Cuba ( es, Partido Comunista de Cuba, PCC) is the sole ruling party of Cuba. It was founded on 3 October 1965 as the successor to the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution, which was in turn made up of the 26t ...

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 repre ...

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 countries in Cent ...

, held in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

in 1982, and the Organizing Committee of the XI

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

in Havana in 1991. He was also the chairman of the Organizing Committee of the VI

Athletics World Cup The Athletics World Cup was a team-based international athletics competition held in 2018. It featured eight national teams based on world rankings, with each team entering one athlete per event, and points gained on the basis of finishing posit ...

that took place in Havana in 1992. From 1997 until 2018 he was the President of the

Cuban Olympic Committee '' , logo =Cuban Olympic Committee.svg , size = 150px , country = Cuba , code = CUB , created = 1926 , recognized = 1955 , association = PASO , headquarters = Havana, Cuba , president = José Fernández Álvarez , secretary general =Ruper ...

. 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".

Acknowledgements

In recognition of his work he was awarded several medals, among them the title of

Hero of the Republic of Cuba The honorary title Hero of the Republic of Cuba ( es, Héroe de la República de Cuba) is the highest decoration awarded by the Republic of Cuba. It is equivalent to other hero titles common in the Socialist Bloc. The decoration is physically rep ...

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