HAVANA.- In the early hours of this Sunday morning, the Hero of the Republic of Cuba, two-star General ® José Ramón Fernández Álvarez, died at the age of 95.

Gallego Fernández, as the Cuban people knew him, was born on November 4, 1923 in Santiago de Cuba. From a very young age, he participated in the revolutionary struggle against Batista's tyranny in conspiracy movements with different military and political groups, which is why he was imprisoned for almost three years on the Isle of Pines.

When the Revolution triumphed, he joined the Revolutionary Armed Forces, participated in the fight against bandits, as well as in the direction of the battles at Bay of Pigs, under the orders of the Commander in Chief of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz.

In the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces he occupied different responsibilities, among them director of the Rebel Army Cadet School, the School of Militia Officers of Matanzas and the Schools of Militia Battalions of the province of Havana; head of the Direction of Combat Preparation and vice-minister of the FAR.

He also served as First Deputy Minister and Minister of Education, Vice President of the Council of Ministers and Advisor to the President of the Councils of State and Ministers. From 1997 until October 2018, he presided over the Cuban Olympic Committee, the year in which he was elected as its Honorary Life President.

He was a founder of the Communist Party of Cuba, he was a member of its Central Committee since the First Congress in 1975 and was an alternate member of the Political Bureau from 1980 to 1991.

He was a deputy at the National Assembly of People's Power since its constitution in 1976 and member of the State Council between 1981 and 1993.

He received a degree in Social Sciences and Professor of Merit at the "Enrique José Varona" Pedagogical University. He was awarded Honorary Doctorates in Education from the University of Havana; in Military Sciences from the FAR Academy "General Máximo Gómez" and in Sciences of Physical Culture and Sport from the University of Sciences of Physical Culture, as well as the Doctorate in Historical Sciences from the Universidad de Oriente.

For his merits he received numerous orders, medals and decorations. In 2001 he was awarded the honorary title of Hero of the Republic of Cuba.

Next Tuesday, between 09:00 and 12:00, his ashes will be exhibited in the Pantheon of the Veterans of the Colon Necropolis, where they will remain until they are transferred to the Mausoleum of the II Frank País Eastern Front.