The first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, and President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez dedicated floral wreaths to Comandante de la Revolución Juan Almeida Bosque, on the occasion of a ceremony commemorating the 11th anniversary of his physical disappearance, September 11.
The tribute took place before the monumental site where his remains rest, in the mausoleum for heroes and martyrs of the Mario Muñoz Monroy Third Front, which Almeida founded and led, on orders from Fidel. The event was headed by Party Central Committee members Lázaro Expósito Canto, president of the Provincial Defense Council, and Beatriz Johnson Urrutia, vice president of this body.
At the sacred site, built on the summit of Esperanza Hill, floral tributes also arrived from the president of the National Assembly, Esteban Lazo Hernández, and in the name of the Cuban people, placed by Brigadier Generals Agustín Peña Porres and Luis Lores Moreira, chief officers of the Eastern Army and the Santiago de Cuba Military Region, respectively.
On his Twitter account, Díaz-Canel recalled Almeida as “the soldier who most resembled the Bronze Titan. Honor for his example and commitment to defend his legacy.”
In addition to sharing the words of the historic leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, describing Almeida, the President added: “For hours, I’ve been listening, on television, to the entire country’s tribute to Comandante de la Revolución Juan Almeida Bosque. I think confronting death was for him another duty, like all those he fulfilled throughout his life.”
At the conclusion of the ceremony to the decorated Hero of the Republic of Cuba, participants placed red roses on his tomb, alongside the sculpture of a guerilla detachment carrying the July 26th Movement flag and the eternal flame that burns in memory of those who fell in these historic mountains.
