# Humberto Pérez González

**Date of birth:** December 6, 1937

**Date of death:** June 27, 2026

**Categories:** economist, politician

Humberto Pérez González was a Cuban economist who headed the Central Planning Board (JUCEPLAN) from 1976 to 1985 and is regarded as one of the architects of the centralized economic system Cuba developed during the 1970s and 1980s. He was born on December 6, 1937, in Cabaiguán, Sancti Spíritus province. As a young man he joined the clandestine 26th of July Movement and fought in Column 8 under Che Guevara, taking part in the capture of Santa Clara in December 1958. After the revolutionary triumph, he trained as an economist at the Higher Party School of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in Moscow, graduating in 1964, and later earned a doctorate in Economic Sciences from the University of Havana in 1984. He served as an advisor to Raúl Castro in two periods (1972-1976 and 1985-1987), was a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba from 1980 to 1985, Vice President of the Council of Ministers, and a deputy to the National Assembly of People's Power. As head of JUCEPLAN he promoted economic planning and management concepts aimed at greater order and growth, and played a significant role in reorganizing the country after the failed 1970 Ten Million Ton Sugar Harvest. In 1986 he was removed from his post during the "rectification of errors and negative tendencies" process launched by Fidel Castro. He later worked as an adjunct professor at the University of Havana and held roles in business entities until his retirement in 2012. In his final years he continued sharing his experience and, together with other economists, helped draft an economic reform proposal for the country. He died on Saturday, June 27, 2026, in Havana, at the age of 89.