The Americas

Ex-Cuban vice president, Bay of Pigs commander, dies at 95

Associated Press
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FILE - In this Feb. 9, 2017 file photo, Cuba's former Vice-President on the Council of Ministers Jose Ramon Fernandez attends the annual International Book fair opening ceremony in Havana, Cuba. Fernandez, a career soldier who joined Cuba's 1950s Revolution and became a prominent collaborator with the Castro brothers, died on Sunday, Jan. 6, 2019, according to official media. He was 95. (AP Photo/Desmond Boylan, File)

FILE - In this May 1, 1999 file photo, Vice President Jose Ramon Fernandez, right, stands with Cuban leader Fidel Castro who watches May Day festivities at Revolution Plaza in Havana, Cuba. Fernandez, a career soldier who joined Cuba's 1950s Revolution and became a prominent collaborator with the Castro brothers, died on Sunday, Jan. 6, 2019, according to official media. He was 95. (AP photo/Jose Goitia, File)

Jose Ramon Fernandez, a retired brigadier general who was key in forming the communist country's new army and commanded Cuban defenses at the Bay of Pigs, has died, state media reported. He was 95.

Tall and spindly with the rigid posture of a military man, Fernandez in his final years remained a legendary figure and served for a time as a vice president on Cuba's Council of Ministers, or Cabinet. He was a founding member of the Communist Party of Cuba.

Fernandez ran a cadet school that trained officers after the revolutionary triumph of Jan. 1, 1959, laying the foundation of the communist country's new army.

He also helped command Cuba's nascent militia forces in their victory over invading exile forces at the Bay of Pigs in April 1961.