The rebel Commander returns forever to Santa Clara 

SANTA CLARA – Amid profound sadness and a moving silence, the funeral honors for Commander of the Revolution Ramiro Valdés Menéndez took place this Thursday at the Ernesto Che Guevara Sculptural Complex in this city. Floral tributes were laid on behalf of Army General Raúl Castro Ruz; the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez; the Association of Combatants; the Cuban people; and his family.
In delivering the central words of the solemn ceremony, the Cuban President highlighted the virtues of a man who, during more than 70 years of dedication to the revolutionary cause, demonstrated exceptional virtues, which made him an indispensable figure of the Revolution.
"Amid the profound sadness caused by his passing, because no matter how many years he lived, and no matter how much he gave, we still miss him greatly, it is worthwhile to express our gratitude for the outpouring of support from all of Cuba in bidding him farewell and for everything that has been revealed to us about his exemplary life," said Díaz-Canel, who recalled various episodes from his career during the Moncada attack, the Granma expedition, and the struggle in the Sierra Maestra mountains.
He also highlighted the special relationship between Ciro Redondo, second-in-command of Column No. 8, and Che Guevara, whom he considered a brother in ideas and dreams, and whom he accompanied during the invasion and the Las Villas campaign, a feat that culminated in the brilliant victory at the Battle of Santa Clara.
He further recalled that, because of this affinity, Fidel Castro appointed him to lead the search for and exhumation of the remains of Che Guevara and his comrades in arms in Bolivia, as well as their subsequent transfer to Santa Clara, tasks which he carried out, like many others, in an exemplary manner.
His words were a lesson in life and history. He became a hero through his actions and always demonstrated absolute faith and loyalty to Fidel and Raúl, stated the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party, who added that Ramiro Valdés's exemplary life teaches us that the Revolution is made with humility and unwavering faith in victory.
The burial ceremony began with the notes of our National Anthem, and after Díaz-Canel's remarks, the funerary urn was placed on the hearse that would take it to the Mausoleum to the Combatants of the Las Villas Front, the site where the mortal remains of the Commander of the Revolution will rest. He thus joins the Reinforcement Detachment, led by Che Guevara, which still has much to do for Cuba in this sacred hour for the nation.
The procession was accompanied by the two stars that recognize him as a Hero of the Republic of Cuba and of Labor; the numerous distinctions and decorations he earned for his exceptional service record; and also, very close to the urn, folded into a triangle, was the Cuban flag he brought from Bolivia with Che Guevara's remains and from which he was never separated again.
The Ceremonial Unit of the Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior marched to the Las Villas Front Mausoleum, while "El Invasor" played, a piece that evokes the epic of Column 8 Ciro Redondo, of which Ramiro was second-in-command under Che Guevara.
Once the ossuary was placed in niche one, row one of the Vanguard block, to the right of the eternal flame that he himself lit at the inauguration of the Mausoleum on October 8, 2009, three rifle volleys were fired in honor and posthumous tribute to the quintessential revolutionary that was Ramiro Valdés.
After the sounding of Taps, relatives of the Hero of Moncada, the Granma, and the Sierra Maestra, as well as the main leaders of the Revolution present, placed white roses at the site where the rebel leader will rest forever, a moment sealed with a moving embrace between the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic and the Commander's widow, Alicia Alonso Becerra.
Also present at the ceremony were members of the Political Bureau, Esteban Lazo Hernández, President of the National Assembly of People's Power and the Council of State; Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, Minister of Foreign Affairs; and Gladys Martínez Verdecia, First Secretary of the Provincial Committee of the Party in Artemisa, as well as Rebel Army Commander José Ramón Machado Ventura, members of the Secretariat of the Central Committee, and other government and state leaders, who were accompanied by the highest authorities of the province.
Hundreds of residents of Villa Clara, representing the Cuban people, attended the tribute to one of the most outstanding heroes of the final stage of our struggles for national liberation, a man who, as has been said, did not seek to be a protagonist in the extraordinary work that is the Revolution, but he was and will continue to be.