14ymedio, Havana, 22 September 2022 — Major General Antonio Enrique Lussón Batlle died this Wednesday in Havana at the age of 92, according to a note published by the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) and released by the official press.
His body will be cremated and his ashes displayed this Friday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the Veterans’ Pantheon of the Columbus necropolis. Subsequently, they will be transferred to the Mausoleum of the Second Eastern Front, in Santiago de Cuba, where he was originally from.
Lussón Batlle has been profusely praised by the official press, which highlights that since joining the Castro Army in 1957, he showed “daring and courage in every action and was promoted to the rank of captain and appointed chief of the platoon.” At that time, he was part of the José Tey, René Ramos Latour Column 9, but a year later went to the II Frank País Garía Eastern Front and in a few months to Abel Santamaría, already with the rank of commander. According to the official newspaper Granma, the promotion was due to his “outstanding participation in the fighting, discipline, spirit of sacrifice and courage.”
His military successes during the Revolution earned him a privileged position, and he was responsible for bringing the so-called Caravan of Victory to Havana.
Lussón Batlle was second head of the Managua military camp, head of the Operations section of the Western Army, head of the Directorate of Operations of the General Staff, head of the Independent Corps of the West, and second head of the Inspection Body of the FAR. He was also twice in the Angolan War, although one of his best-known missions was his performance at the head of a battalion in the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961.
In addition, between 2000 and 2008 he was head of Special Troops of the FAR.
In the political sphere, Lussón was Minister of Transport, first vice president of the National Institute of the State Reserve, and vice president of the Council of Ministers between 2010 and 2015. In 2016, he returned to the Central Committee of the Communist Party, which he had helped form as a founding member. He also held the position of deputy in the National Assembly of People’s Power for several legislatures.
In 2001 he received the medal of Hero of the Republic of Cuba.
In the last 14 months, about twenty senior Army officers have died, almost all of them from the so-called historic generation that participated in the 1959 Revolution.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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