Cuba’s Bay of Pigs commander Jose Ramon Fernandez dies at 95

HAVANA TIMES – Jose Ramon Fernandez, one of the top commanders of Cuba’s forces at the Bay of Pigs invasion and a founding member of the country’s Communist party has died aged 95, state media reported late Sunday.

Fernandez’s heroics saw him awarded the title of “Hero of the Republic” and he had an “outstanding career in the service of the revolution,” recalled the official Granma newspaper.

After the foiled CIA attempted invasion at the Bay of Pigs in on the southern coast of Cuba in 1961, Fernandez took on numerous political and public roles. From 1978 to 2012 he was one of Cuba’s many vice presidents and sat on the executive committee of the Pan American Sports Organization. After being retired as a VP he was a named a presidential advisor.

Fernandez died Sunday and will be cremated, Granma reported.