Orlando Borrego, Doctor of Economic Sciences, dies from COVID-19, collaborator and dear friend of the Che

June 28, 2021

On the night of June 25, at the age of 85, revolutionary fighter Orlando Borrego Díaz passed away from COVID-19. He was a writer and economist who was one of the closest companions to Ernesto Che Guevara from his entry into Column 8 "Ciro Redondo," commanded by the Argentine guerrilla fighter, in which he achieved the rank of first lieutenant.

After the triumph of the Revolution, he held the positions of Chief of the Military Economic Board of the Cabaña Regiment (1959), Deputy Chief of the Industrialization Department and later, Chief of that department (1959-1960).

Likewise, he was undersecretary of Basic Industries, first vice minister of the Ministry of Industries (1961-1964), minister of the Sugar Industry (1964-1968) and advisor to the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers (1973-1980).

He earned a degree in Economics from the University of La Habana (UH) in 1973 and in 1980 earned a doctorate in Economic Sciences from the Institute of Mathematical Economics of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union.

With the triumph of the Bolivarian Revolution and at the request of president, Commandant Hugo Chávez Frías, he carried out various advisory and cooperation tasks assigned to him, such as the organization of the National Planning School, lectures at the National Assembly of Venezuela on the Economic Models tested in Cuba, comprehensive organization of the Barinas State at the request of fellow Governor of the State Adán Chávez Frías, with the approval of president Hugo Chávez, three years of advisory work for the Che Guevara Mission, traveling periodically to that country to fulfill these functions, as these were performed simultaneously with his work as advisor to the Minister of Transport of our country.

In March 2014 he officially retired from MITRANS and continued advising and collaborating with the José Martí Cultural Society and the Martiano Program and with the National Association of Economists of Cuba (ANEC).

In May of that same year (2014) he traveled to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela at the request of its president, Nicolás Maduro Moro, to collaborate and advise on some tasks fundamentally of an academic nature and as a continuation of what was indicated by Commandant Hugo Chávez Frías, work that concluded in mid-April 2015, with a highly positive evaluation.

He also advised the "Che Guevara" chair at the UH and the Ministry of Transport of Cuba.

Among his best-known publications are: "The development of the sugar industry in Cuba" (1965), "The science of management, antecedents and current approaches" (1987), "The Che in socialism" (1989), "The Che in the twenty-first century".