Speech delivered by José Ramón Machado Ventura, second secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee, during the funeral ceremony for Brigadier General José Ramón Fernández Álvarez, before the Veterans Pantheon in Cristóbal Colón Cemetery, January 8, 2019, Year 61 of the Revolution
(Council of State transcript – GI translation)
Dear Asela and other family members of Brigadier General José Ramón Fernández Álvarez; Compañero Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, President of the Councils of State and Ministers:
There are persons with such a prodigious, genuine, exemplary existence, that it is impossible to associate them with the idea of death. We will always remember them in connection with their lives, their productive work for the good of the people and humanity.
Fernández is, without the slightest exaggeration, one of these exceptional beings. His sense of duty and ethical conscience were an infallible compass in all of his actions.
The First Secretary of our Party, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, as soon as he heard the news, was one of the first to convey condolences, from Santiago de Cuba, where he is now. I am sure that we share this sentiment of solidarity with the vast majority of Cubans. Accept it in the name of all.
During the initial years of his adult life, and still without a clear conception of what would be the right path, of how much moral force would be required to consistently maintain upstanding conduct, in an environment in which, with a few honorable exceptions, pettiness, egoism, greed, and disloyal competition to rise in the ranks and attain higher positions predominated.
This was how things were in the army of a republic under the Yankee boot, in which that idealistic young man entered, full of energy, with the only goal of serving the homeland in any way within his reach.
Thanks to his tenacity, discipline, intelligence, effort, and accomplishments, he overcame the many obstacles he faced, time and time again, given his decision to not capitulate to dishonorable proposals and guide himself solely by the dictates of his conscience.
In this difficult battle, he developed the conviction that it was not enough to avoid getting involved, and to repudiate so much indecency. Action was needed, and without hesitation he risked it all and initiated a conspiracy within the military environment, the only one he knew, and the route he considered most feasible given the circumstances. Events took charge of showing him that his thinking was not viable.
Thus in April of 1956, after a War Council followed the orders of the dictator, his incarceration in the so-called Model Prison on the then Isle of Pines proved to be not only an undeserved punishment but a veritable school that provided answers to many of his questions about how Cuba could attain true independence and a more just society for its children. The daily interaction with other combatants presented before his eyes the true and only path possible to make that long held dream a reality.
During those difficult years of prison, First Lieutenant Fernández, until that time one of the army’s exceptional honorable officers, became forever “El Gallego” Fernández, an unconditional soldier of the Revolution.
By January 1, 1959, moreover, the incorruptible and upright patriot was a principled, audacious revolutionary. He was not yet a Communist in the full sense of the word, but yes, a man with advanced socio-political thinking and ready to risk it all to make his ideals a reality.
This was reported by his companions in the political prison to the main leaders of the Revolution. This explains how, shortly after the triumph, both the Comandante en Jefe and Comandante Raúl Castro Ruz met with him to find out what help he could offer. That initial conversation was enough for both of them to separately reach the same conclusion: they sensed that they had before them a sincere and transparent man, who expressed with absolute clarity what he thought. In short, someone who the Revolution could trust.
They immediately charged him with important tasks. The charismatic Gallego Fernández, a Santiago native with the accent of those born in that Spanish land, who, deeply disappointed, had shortly before decided to abandon his military career, without a thought, in response to Fidel’s appeal, renounced the sizable income of a sugar mill administrator, a post to which he had already been appointed. He put on the olive green uniform, and with the modest salary of a Rebel Army officer, departed to fulfill the assigned mission.
His conduct rapidly transformed the initial intuition of the leader of the Revolution and Comandante Raúl Castro about his ability into a profound conviction.Fernández’s extensive career since then is well known to our people. In the convulsive first years, he went from one mission to another as circumstances dictated.With his characteristic modesty, he placed his military knowledge at the disposal of the newborn Revolutionary Armed Forces. This was very valuable in confronting the constant aggression of our powerful northern neighbor, which immediately began to take place.
He was charged with directing the Rebel Army’s Cadet Academy. Without abandoning this responsibility, he assumed the leadership of preparing Havana’s first militia battalions, who were awarded the “green beret” after completing a brief, intense training. With them, he took part in confrontations with bands of counterrevolutionaries, organized and armed by the United States.
He later served as the founding director of the Matanzas Militia Leaders School, and departed with students there to fight in Playa Girón, where, under the direct command of the Comandante en Jefe, he participated in an outstanding fashion in the direction of actions that led to the first significant defeat of U.S. imperialism on this continent.
Given such outstanding merits, he was promoted to Comandante in June of 1961, and a month later appointed Head of the Revolutionary Armed Forces General Staff’s Directorate of Combative Preparedness.
In 1964, he graduated in the Superior Basic School’s first class, and in January of 1969 was appointed Deputy Minister of Instruction for the Revolutionary Armed Forces. In this role, he completed meritorious work in the organization and development of cadre training in the Revolutionary Armed Forces’ educational institutions. More than a few of the principles that he promoted remain valid today.
The year 1970 marked the beginning of another important stage of his life, when he was appointed Minister of Education and later a Council of State vice president, in charge of attention to the sports sector.
In carrying out these responsibilities, he was able to interpret and put into practice ideas conceived by the leader of the Revolution to advance the extraordinary educational work that has taken place in our homeland.
His contributions to the national educational system at all levels are notable and well known, as they are in sports, heading the Cuban Olympic Committee for many years and continuing as its lifelong Honorary President.
There are thousands of teachers, professors, sports trainers, and athletes who remember him with affection and respect, always in close contact with all of them and a great number of children, adolescents, and young students.
And when in 2012 his health and advanced age required a slower pace, he continued contributing his experience and knowledge as an advisor to the President of the Council of State and Ministers. Until very recently, overcoming his difficulties walking, we would see him arriving good and early every morning, at the Palace of the Revolution, to fulfill this important responsibility.
So much effort and results merited numerous acknowledgments from our people. A founder of the Party, he was a member of the Central Committee from the First Congress in 1975; an alternate member of the Political Bureau; an active member and delegate to all Party Congresses.He was elected deputy to the National Assembly of People’s Power since its constitution in 1976, a condition he maintained at the time of his death.He was awarded multiple decorations, national and international orders. Noteworthy was his honorary title of Hero of the Republic of Cuba, granted on April 16, 2001, with the Playa Girón Order, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of that momentous victory.The printing of a book containing his memoirs, with a foreword by Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, was just completedabout two months ago, with the idea of presenting it on the occasion of his 95th birthday.That did not happen. Upon receiving the first copy and hearing of the idea, already bedridden, he strongly insisted that the book launch not take place on that date, saying, “It would be somewhat pretentious on my part.” That was Fernández.At the end of the book, he wrote these lines that explain, in and of themselves, the meaning of his long and fruitful life as a revolutionary:“My greatest pride, in the healthy sense of the word, is to have had the confidence of two great men of our revolutionary process, Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro Ruz and Army General Raúl Castro Ruz.”And he continued:“My experiences marked by these two figures, who I have followed in all these years, and the commitment to my homeland and the people of Cuba, I hold dear with great ardor, and they serve as an incentive to continue contributing my physical and mental energy to this great work of the Cuban socialist Revolution. My only duty is to be faithful to that confidence, as long as there is life in me.”Thus end his words, to which could only be added: You did so until the last minute of your existence.Thanks for the example you bequeath us! Every one of us who knew you, and our entire people, will remember and admire you forever, dear compañero Fernández.Thank you very much. (Applause)
