MIAMI, United States. – The death of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) Division General Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja on July 1 was added to the long list of deaths of generals and other high-ranking officers over the past year.
Since the anti-government protests of July 11, 2021 (J11), 23 high-ranking officers (mostly from the reserves) have lost their lives in different circumstances, including 15 generals.
The highest position of all was held by López-Calleja himself, who, in addition to his military rank, held the positions of executive president of the Business Administration Group (GAESA), member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) and Deputy to the National Assembly of People’s Power for the Villa Clara municipality of Remedios.
The first recorded death after 11J was that of Division General Agustín Peña Pórrez, who held the position of Chief of the Eastern Army. Peña Pórrez was a member of the Central Committee since April 2021. He died on July 18 at the age of 58 without the causes of his death being reported.
The death of the head of the Eastern Army was followed by that of Reserve Brigadier General Marcelo Verdecia Perdomo (July 20) and Reserve Division General Rubén Martínez Puente (July 24), former head of the Anti-Aircraft Defense and Revolutionary Air Force (DAAFAR).
Days later, on July 26, two other high-ranking officers died: Reserve Brigadier General Manuel Eduardo Lastres Pacheco and Brigadier General Armando Choy Rodríguez.
On August 16, 2021, the death of Reserve Brigadier General Arnoldo Ferrer Martínez, former head of preparation of the Territorial Troops Militias (MTT) and the General Staff of Havana, was reported.
On August 28, Reserve Division General Félix Baranda Columbié died. Barely 19 days later (September 16), the death of Reserve Brigadier General Hiraldo Antonio Mora, who served three internationalist missions in Angola, was reported.
On September 30, 2021, Brigadier General Diego Cobas Sanz, head of the FAR Combative Preparation Directorate, died. Throughout his career, Cobas Sanz specialized in commanding tank troops. Likewise, he was former Chief of Staff of the Military Region of Havana, Mayabeque and Artemisa.
On October 15, Brigadier General Manuel de Jesús Rey Soberón, former head of the MINFAR Directorate and former director of the National Defense College, died, and five days later the death of Reserve Brigadier General Manuel Fernández Falcó was announced. , former head of the National Revolutionary Police (PNR).
On December 27, 2021, Brigadier General Humberto Omar Francis Pardo, former head of Fidel Castro’s Directorate of Personal Security (DGSP) and former head of “shock troops” during popular protests, died.
On March 25, 2022, Reserve Brigadier General Rafael Moracén Limonta, a former Rebel Army combatant, who participated in the war in Angola and was also in charge of the International Relations Secretariat of the Association of Combatants of the Revolution in Syria, died. .
The last death prior to the death of López-Calleja occurred on June 23, 2022, when the death of Reserve Brigadier General Enrique Acevedo González, former Rebel Army combatant, former head of the Infantry Company, former Chief of Staff, was reported. , former head of the Infantry Division in the Central and Western armies, former chief of the Provincial General Staff of the City of Havana, former chief of the Combative Preparation Section in the Western Army.
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