Author: Granma | internet@granma.cu
september 28, 2015 17:09:12
On the morning of September 28, outstanding revolutionary combatant Jorge Risquet Valdés-Saldaña died in Havana, victim of a prolonged and serious illness.
He was born on May 6, 1930, in Havana. He joined the revolutionary youth movement in 1943, where he took on various roles in the Socialist Youth and Popular Socialist Party, including Director of the newspaper “Mella,” Organization Secretary and General-Secretary of the National Committee of Socialist Youth, an organization to which he belonged for 15 years. He was arrested and prosecuted on various occasions by the government of the time due to his revolutionary actions.
Jorge Risquet was Cuba’s representative and Director for Latin America in the World Federation of Democratic Youth and completed an internationalist mission in Guatemala in 1954.
He was kidnapped, tortured and imprisoned during the Batista dictatorship. In 1958 he joined the Rebel Army’s Frank País Second Eastern Front.
After the triumph of the Revolution he took on the roles of head of the Policy and Operations departments of the Revolutionary Armed Forces in the former province of Oriente; the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution’s provincial secretary, playing a leading role in the founding of the PCC; head of the Patricio Lumumba Internationalist Battalion in Congo Brazzaville; Labor Minister; Director of the Cuban Internationalist Civil Mission in the People’s Republic of Angola between 1975 and 1979.
He also led the Cuban delegation in four-party negotiations between Cuba, Angola, the U.S. and South Africa in 1988.
Jorge Risquet was a member of the Party Central Committee since its founding: of the Secretariat from 1973-1990; he was elected as a member of the Party Political Bureau from 1980-1991 and Deputy to the National Assembly of Peoples Power from its founding through 1993.
He graduated with a degree in journalism, was founder of various publications and author of numerous articles, he advised in the process of creating and editing important works, particularly those related to African liberation struggles.
At the time of his death Jorge Risquet held the position of founder of the Communist Party of Cuba. He received various decorations and distinctions for services rendered.
His body will be cremated and the ashes will be on display tomorrow, September 29, from 9:00am to 12:00pm, in the Veterans Mausoleum in Colón Cemetery. Later, on a date yet to be confirmed, they will be transferred to the Frank País Second Eastern Front Mausoleum.
