Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez has officially declared a national day of official mourning to honor the passing of iconic revolutionary commander Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, via Presidential Decree 1247/2026 issued on June 21, 2026. The mourning period will run from 6:00 a.m. to midnight on June 23, 2026.
Díaz-Canel acted within the constitutional authority granted to the presidency under Article 128, paragraph ñ) of the Cuban Constitution, alongside supplementary powers outlined in Article 125 of the national constitution and Article 24, paragraph x) of 2020’s Law 136, which governs the roles of the Cuban president and vice president. The decree was formally published by the Cuban government and first reported by state-owned Granma, Cuba’s official newspaper of record, on the morning of June 23.
Valdés, a Hero of the Republic of Cuba and Hero of Labor, died on the morning of June 21, 2026 at an undisclosed location, leaving behind a decades-long legacy of dedicated service to the Cuban revolution and the Cuban people. A foundational figure in Cuba’s revolutionary history, he participated in the landmark 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks, the opening act of the Cuban Revolution, and was one of the original members of the Granma expedition that brought revolutionary fighters to Cuba’s shores in 1956.
He went on to serve as a combatant with Fidel Castro’s Rebel Army in the Sierra Maestra mountains, holding the position of second-in-command of the Column No. 8 Ciro Redondo during the revolutionary army’s invasion of western Cuba. He also fought alongside legendary revolutionary leader Ernesto “Che” Guevara in the decisive Battle of Santa Clara, which cemented the revolution’s victory over the Fulgencio Batista regime in 1959. For his lifelong commitment and unwavering loyalty to the revolutionary cause, Valdés earned enduring respect and admiration from the Cuban public.
Under the terms of the presidential decree, all public buildings and military institutions across Cuba are required to fly the Cuban Lone Star Flag at half-mast for the full duration of the official mourning period. Three senior government officials — the ministers of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, the Ministry of the Interior, and the Ministry of Foreign Relations — have been formally tasked with ensuring full compliance with all provisions of the decree. The document was signed at Havana’s Palace of the Revolution on June 21, 2026, a year marked by Cuba as the centennial of the birth of Fidel Castro Ruz, the country’s founding revolutionary commander-in-chief.