Julio César Gandarilla Bermejo (1943 – 24 November 2020) was a Cuban politician who served as

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

from January 2017 until his death.

Life and career

Gandarilla Bermejo was born in 1943 in

Matanzas Province Matanzas () is one of the provinces of Cuba. Major towns in the province include Cárdenas, Colón, Jovellanos and the capital of the same name, Matanzas. The resort town of Varadero is also located in this province. Among Cuban provinces, ...

, Cuba. Gandarilla Bermejo was a founder of the

National Revolutionary Militia The National Revolutionary Militia () (MNR) is a citizens’ militia in the Republic of Cuba. It was founded in 1959 in the aftermath of the Cuban Revolution to protect buildings against sabotage from "counter-revolutionary" armed groups and any ...

. He was a

vice admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of Vice ...

in the

Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces The Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces (; FAR) are the military forces of Cuba. They include Cuban Revolutionary Army, Revolutionary Army, Cuban Revolutionary Navy, Revolutionary Navy, Cuban Revolutionary Air and Air Defense Force, Revolutionary A ...

, and fought in the

Angolan Civil War The Angolan Civil War () was a civil war in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. It was a power struggle between two for ...

. He was head of the Military Counterintelligence Directorate for 16 years. Gandarilla Bermejo was a member of the

Communist Party of Cuba The Communist Party of 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 26th of July Movement and Popu ...

, and a deputy in the

National Assembly of People's Power The National Assembly of People's Power () is the supreme organ of power of the Republic of Cuba. It is the only branch of government in the state, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs are subservient to it. It is currently ...

. In 2015, Gandarilla Bermejo became First Deputy Minister of the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

, replacing Carlos Fernández Gondín, who became Minister of the Interior. In January 2017, he became

, succeeding Carlos Fernández Gondín who had died earlier that month, becoming the sixth Minister of the Interior since the role was created in 1961. In the same month, he signed a memorandum of understanding with outgoing US president

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

. Whilst Minister of the Interior, he introduced legislation aimed at repressing opposition and dissent. Some of the legislation was criticised by human rights organisations for allegedly violating

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...

. In October 2019, Gandarilla Bermejo signed a memorandum of understanding with the

Russian Security Council The Security Council of the Russian Federation ( SCRF or Sovbez; ) is a constitutional consultative body of the Russian president that supports the president's decision-making on national security affairs and matters of strategic interest. Comp ...

. The following month, the US banned Gandarilla Bermejo from entering the country due to Cuba's support for socialist

Nicolás Maduro Nicolás Maduro Moros (; born 23 November 1962) is a Venezuelan politician and former union leader serving as the 53rd president of Venezuela since 2013. Previously, he was the 24th Vice President of Venezuela, vice president from 2012 to 20 ...

during the

Venezuelan presidential crisis The Venezuelan presidential crisis was a political crisis concerning the leadership and the legitimate president of Venezuela between 2019 and 2023, with the nation and the world divided in support for Nicolás Maduro or Juan Guaidó. Venezu ...

. His two sons were also sanctioned by the US. Gandarilla Bermejo did not have a

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

account, even though Cuban president

Miguel Díaz-Canel Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (; born 20 April 1960) is a Cuban politician and engineer. He has served as the 8th First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba since 2021 and as the 17th president o ...

said all senior leaders should have one.

Death

Gandarilla Bermejo died of cancer on 24 November 2020. He was cremated without a public funeral ceremony.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gandarilla Bermejo, Julio Cesar 1943 births 2020 deaths Government ministers of Cuba People from Matanzas Province Deaths from cancer in Cuba Communist Party of Cuba politicians Members of the National Assembly of People's Power Cuban military personnel of the Angolan Civil War 20th-century Cuban military personnel 21st-century Cuban military personnel Vice admirals