Lionel Soto Prieto

Cuban revolutionary. Historian, diplomat, and professor. Activist of the Socialist People's Party and founder of the Communist Party of Cuba.

He was imprisoned during the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista and after the triumph of the revolution he served as National Director of the Schools of Revolutionary Instruction, president of the Council of the Plan for Technological Teaching of Soils, Fertilizers and Livestock, and ambassador to Great Britain and the Soviet Union.

He was born in Havana, Cuba, in July 1927. He was a student leader at the University of Havana, where he graduated with a Doctor's degree in Philosophy and Letters. Later he held relevant positions in the Socialist Youth and in the Socialist People's Party. He participated in political struggles against the government of Carlos Prío first and the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista later, which is why he was imprisoned in the Modelo Prison on Isla de Pinos.

He was freed on January 1, 1959 and already in the Revolution he was appointed National Director of the Schools of Revolutionary Instruction. He was also president of the Council of the Plan for Technological Teaching of Soils, Fertilizers and Livestock.

Founder of the Communist Party of Cuba in which he served as a member of the secretariat of its Central Committee. He was director of the SI-MAR Publishing House and represented Cuba as ambassador to the Soviet Union and to Great Britain.

He published various articles in the Cuba socialista magazine and several books, among which his three-volume work stands out: "The Revolution of '33", with which he obtained the degree of Doctor in Historical Sciences from the University of Havana.

He died in Havana on November 28, 2008. At 81 years old he said goodbye to life, but the bells of his revolutionary, fruitful and imperishable work will continue to ring beyond his death, with the same dignity as that bell on October Tenth, the bell of La Demajagua that in 1947 together with Fidel he transported to the capital, in a vindictive act of our symbol of independence.

"His life was an example of passionate struggle for the Homeland and socialism, a cause to which he served with total dedication for more than half a century of his fruitful existence," emphasized Jorge Risquet Valdés, member of the Party's Central Committee, in the farewell ceremony.

The extensive biography of Lionel as a communist fighter and his valuable services to the cause of the liberation of peoples, do not fit in a brief farewell, Risquet assured, an old comrade in struggle of Soto and personal friend of the tireless cienfueguero, who from his student life participated actively in revolutionary work.

The distinguished fighter, Doctor in Historical Sciences, carried out, with very positive results, important responsibilities: Vice President of the Council of Ministers, member of the Secretariat of the Party's Central Committee, National Director of Schools of Revolutionary Instruction, Deputy to the National Assembly and ambassador to Great Britain and the Soviet Union.

From the moment he entered the University of Havana to study Philosophy and Letters, he directed the Committee of Socialist Youth at that institution. Lionel represented the FEU for several years at the International Union of Students, headquartered in Prague, and as a leader of that organization, he visited numerous countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America, and promoted the worldwide campaign for the freedom of Fidel, Raúl and other fighters of the Moncada.

He was also a member of the National Leadership of Socialist Youth. In 1957 he was arrested by the henchmen of the tyranny and subjected to brutal torture. He regained his freedom on January 1, 1959.

During the last ten years of his life he did not become discouraged by the gradual loss of vision and directed, until his last moments, the Si-Mar publishing house, where he defended his criterion that "a true revolutionary can only be one to the extent that he expresses the historical interests of the working class."