Ramiro Valdés Menéndez (born 28 April 1932) is a Cuban politician. He became a Government Vice President in the 2009 shake-up by Raúl Castro.[1]
Ramiro Valdés Menéndez | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Ramiro Valdés Menéndez | |
| Vice President of the Council of State of Cuba | |
| In office 20 December 2009 – 10 October 2019 | |
| President | Miguel Díaz-Canel Raul Castro |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 28 April 1932 Artemisa, Cuba |
| Political party | Communist Party of Cuba |
| Spouse | Alicia Alonso Becerra |
| Profession | Military and politician |
Biography
editA veteran of the Cuban Revolution, Valdés fought alongside Fidel Castro at the attack on the Moncada Barracks in 1953 and was a founding member of the 26th of July Movement. He was one of the revolutionaries on the Granma expedition and one of the 12 who survived the initial landing. He has been a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Cuba since October 1965, and has held many important governmental posts, including those of Interior Minister and Vice-Prime Minister. On 31 August 2006, he was named Minister of Informatics and Communications.[2]
In 1960, he was a member of Raúl Castro delegation that visited Czechoslovakia where he received intelligence training.[3]
He is the father of the Cuban composer Ramiro Valdés Puentes, awarded Cuba's First National Prize of Composition, who currently lives in Miami and in 2004 was the protagonist of a Telemundo 51 news series titled "The Commander's Son". [citation needed]
Minister of the Interior
editBy 1969, the Politburo, the former central policy-making and governing body of the Cuban Communist party, decided to remove Valdés from the Ministry of the Interior, replacing him with Sergio del Valle Jiménez, a comandante and MINFAR's first deputy minister.
In 1978, Fidel removed del Valle and brought back Valdés as Minister of the Interior. Expectations for improvement failed, and personal rivalries and tensions increased.
By the time of the Third Party Congress in 1986, Valdés was again gone as Minister of the Interior and as a member of the Politburo and it seemed as if his political career was over.
But then, he landed a new job as director of national electronics (Copextel). In the beginning, it was a very small project, but soon it became the hub for the development of Cuba's telecom, software and IT industry—in growing association with Japanese, Korean, and Chinese enterprises.
The 1990s was Copextel's coming-of-age and also heralded the creation of Cuba's Industrial Group for Electronics, attached to the Ministry of Steel and Machinery (SIME).
Later this Industrial Group of Electronics came under the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications. In less than 10 years, Valdés' group had become the single most important entity within the new ministry, obviously becoming the man to replace the outgoing minister.
In February 2007, Valdés defended Internet restrictions as a response to US aggression. The Internet "constitutes one of the tools for global extermination" he said, referring to US policies, "but is also necessary to continue to advance down the path of development."
At an international conference on communications in Havana, Valdés defended Cuba's "rational and efficient" use of the Internet but warned that "the wild colt of new technologies can and must be controlled."
He was once again readmitted to the Politburo after Raúl's official nomination as President of the Council of State in February 2008.
In February 2010 Valdés, based on declarations from Cuba and Venezuela, visited Venezuela as part of a Cuban delegation that was intended to "help Venezuela reduce energy consumption".
Retirement
editIn April 2021, it was agreed that Valdés would not rejoin the Politburo of the Cuban government.[4]
References
edit- ^ "Who's in and who's out in Cuba government shakeup". Yahoo. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 24 November 2022. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
- ^ "Granma.cu -New Cuban minister of informatics appointed". Archived from the original on 3 November 2006. Retrieved 9 September 2006.
- ^ Koura, Jan; Waters, Robert Anthony (1 December 2019). "'Africanos' versus 'Africanitos' the Soviet-Czechoslovak Competition to Protect the Cuban Revolution". The International History Review. 43: 72–89. doi:10.1080/07075332.2019.1692892. ISSN 0707-5332. S2CID 213918708.
- ^ Marsh, Sarah; Acosta, Nelson (19 April 2021). "Cuban President Diaz-Canel made Communist Party leader, ending Castro era". Reuters. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
External links
edit- Biography by CIDOB (in Spanish)