Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, a central figure in the establishment and operation of Cuba’s extensive state security and intelligence apparatus, has died in Havana at the age of 94. His death was confirmed by Andy Gomez, a founder of the Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies at the University of Miami, with a government announcement in Granma, the official newspaper of the Cuban Communist Party, stating that Valdés died on Sunday.

Valdés was a prominent revolutionary who fought alongside Fidel and Raúl Castro from the early stages of their insurgency, including the 1953 assault on the Moncada military barracks, exile and training in Mexico, the 1956 landing aboard the Granma yacht, and subsequent guerrilla warfare against the regime of Fulgencio Batista. After the revolution’s success in 1959, Valdés became a key architect of Cuba’s internal security network, serving as the first director of the Ministry of the Interior. There, he built a powerful surveillance system designed to monitor and suppress dissent within Cuba, and played a role in campaigns against political opponents and marginalized groups, including forced re-education of gay individuals.

Throughout his political career, Valdés experienced periods of both favor and political exile within the Cuban leadership, having been removed twice from the Interior Ministry—first in 1969 and again in 1986. During these intervals, he developed expertise in computer technology and telecommunications, later overseeing Cuba’s nascent telecom sector when Raúl Castro assumed leadership in 2006. In this role, Valdés managed early efforts to regulate internet access, describing the technology as a “wild colt” that needed to be controlled.

In 2010, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez appointed Valdés as a special adviser on electricity, a move seen as an effort to extend Cuba’s intelligence and media control techniques to Venezuela. Despite his prominent status and numerous honors—including the title Commander of the Revolution—Valdés was widely feared and distrusted by many Cubans, who associated him with repression and state surveillance. His nickname among critics, Charco de Sangre (Pool of Blood), reflected the longstanding perception of his role in Cuba’s security apparatus.

Valdés remained a key figure in the Cuban Communist Party for decades, serving as a vice president until Raúl Castro’s resignation in 2021. That summer, during widespread anti-government protests, Valdés faced public backlash when demonstrators in Palma Soriano confronted him with cries of “murderer,” forcing his guarded retreat. He later condemned the protesters via social media as agents of foreign powers.

In late 2023, Valdés, then 93, was appointed to lead a government initiative aimed at stabilizing Cuba’s failing electrical grid and expanding solar power. The program ultimately fell short, as the country experienced extended, nationwide blackouts.

Born on April 28, 1932, in Artemisa, Valdés came from humble beginnings and had limited formal education before joining the revolutionary movement. He is survived by his wife, Alicia Alonso Becerra, and four children, including Ramiro Valdés Puente, a composer residing in Miami.

In a rare interview in 2018, Valdés reflected on his lifelong dedication to the Cuban revolution, saying that after the initial choice to join, there was no turning back—a commitment that shaped his decades-long role within the island’s political and intelligence structures.