Dr. José Ramón Balaguer Passes Away

July 16, 2022

At 90 years of age, the fighter and physician of the II Frank País Eastern Front, Dr. José Ramón Balaguer Cabrera, passed away this Friday.

José Ramón was born on June 6, 1932 in the city of Guantánamo. His initial primary studies took place at a convent school and later continued at La Salle School, until completing preparatory school. He finished high school in Santiago de Cuba in 1949, at which time he moved to Havana to study Medicine.

When the coup d'état of March 10, 1952 occurred, without abandoning his university studies, he joined the struggle against Batista's tyranny and became part of the FEU group, participating in demonstrations and student strikes.

In May 1957, he joined in Manzanillo the group that Frank País was sending to the Sierra Maestra. He was detained at Central Miranda and served two months in prison at the Boniato Jail. In 1958 he joined as a fighter and physician of Company B "Pedro Soto Alba," in Column 19, Second Frank País Eastern Front, participating in several combats.

With the triumph of the Revolution, he held various military positions up to Deputy Vice Minister of the FAR.

Between 1976 and 1985 he served as First Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee in Santiago de Cuba; subsequently he was promoted to Member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee.

Starting in 1990 he served as Cuba's Ambassador to the former USSR, later Russia. Upon his return in 1992, he was elected Member of the Political Bureau, an organ in which he served as Delegate in Granma province between 1994 and 1995. In 2004 he was appointed as Minister of Public Health and in 2010 he returned to Party work.

In 2011 he took office as Head of the International Relations Department of the Central Committee, a position he held until 2019.

Throughout his extensive record of service to the Homeland, he was a member of the Central Committee of the Party from 1975 to 2019 and a deputy to the National Assembly of People's Power since its founding in 1976. He held the status of Founder of the Communist Party of Cuba.

For his dedicated attitude, humanitarianism, and loyalty in fulfilling the missions assigned to him throughout his exemplary life, he received several decorations and recognitions granted by the Council of State.

When he requested from the Army General in March 2019 his release due to health problems, he wrote in his own hand:

"In 1952 my revolutionary struggle began and it was forged and consolidated as a fighter of the Second Frank País Eastern Front under his leadership and that of Machado. If due to imperial madness we must fight again, I will be there in the trench with my rifle."

His body will be cremated and his ashes will be displayed in the Veterans' Pantheon of the Colón Necropolis on Saturday, July 16 between 9:00 am and 12:00 noon, until their subsequent transfer to the Mausoleum of the Second Frank País Eastern Front.