Jesús Gilberto García was a founding member of the Cuban Communist Party and part of the July 26 Movement.
LIMA, Peru – Jesús Gilberto García Alonso, former leader of the Cuban regime and one of the expedition members of the Granma yacht, died this Friday on the Island at the age of 95.
According to the website of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC), García Alonso was born in 1930 and met Fidel Castro two decades later, when the late dictator served as his lawyer in a case against the Ministry of Labor for a job dismissal.
From a young age he joined the insurrection process against General Fulgencio Batista. He was part of the Orthodox party and also of the 26th of July Movement. He participated in collections, demonstrations and the purchase of weapons after the attack on the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba.
In June 1956 he was sent to Mexico and from the coast of that country he left on November 25 of the same year along with the other expedition members of the Granma yacht.
After the triumph of Fidel Castro’s Revolution, which became a dictatorship, José Gilberto García Alonso served in the Army on the Isle of Pines, later in the Aviation and finally in the Research Department of the Rebel Army (DIER), where he reached the rank of captain.
Part of the power scheme of the Cuban regime, he also reached other leadership positions both inside and outside the Island. Between 1981 and 1982 he was head of the South American Department at MINREX and from 1983 to 1985 he was ambassador to Cape Verde.
The former expedition member retired in 1988 and began serving in the Provincial Directorate of Attention to Combatants in Havana City.
García Alonso was a founding member of the PCC and received multiple decorations throughout his life for his service to the Castro dictatorship. The state press reports that his body will be cremated and his ashes will be temporarily deposited in the Veterans Pantheon of the Colón Necropolis.
After his death, the official reports They highlighted his “absolute loyalty to Fidel and Raúl, his permanent defense of unity among the revolutionaries and his dedication until his last breath to the tasks that the Revolution entrusted to him.”
