Ramiro Valdez (L), Vice-President of the Council of Ministers of Cuba talks with Bolivia's Foreign Minister Fernando Huanacuni during a ceremony to commemorate Che Guevara's 50th death anniversary in Vallegrande, Santa Cruz, Bolivia, October 9, 2017. REUTERS/David Mercado 

Bolivia's President Evo Morales (C), Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera (L) and Vice-President of the Council of Ministers of Cuba Ramiro Valdez are seen during a ceremony to commemorate Che Guevara's 50th death anniversary,in Vallegrande, Santa Cruz, Bolivia, October 9, 2017. REUTERS/David Mercado 

Cuba's President Raul Castro (C) speaks to Jose Ramon Monteagudo (3rd L), First Secretary of Cuba’s Communist Party for the province of Sancti Spiritus, while sitting near Commander of the Revolution Ramiro Valdez (L), Cuba’s Vice President and 2nd Secretary of Cuba’s Communist Party Jose Ramon Machado Ventura (2nd L), President of the National Assembly Esteban Lazo (3rd R), Cuba’s First Vice President Miguel Diaz Canel (2nd R) and Vice President Salvador Valdez Mesa, during a ceremony marking the 63rd anniversary of the July 26, 1953 rebel assault which former Cuban leader Fidel Castro led on the Moncada army barracks in Sancti Spiritus, Cuba, July 26, 2016. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini 

Cuba's President Raul Castro (L) walks next to Cuba's Revolution Commander and Vice President Ramiro Valdez during a wreath-laying ceremony at the mausoleum of 19th century Cuban independence hero Jose Marti in Santiago de Cuba July 26, 2013. Cuban President Raul Castro assured his people on Friday that a transfer of power to younger generations had begun, in a televised address marking the 60th anniversary of the start of the Cuban revolution. Castro spoke in the city of Santiago in eastern Cuba, where on July 26, 1953, the young Castro and a group of rebels, led by his brother Fidel, attacked the Moncada military barracks in a failed assault that sparked the movement that eventually toppled the U.S.-backed government of dictator Fulgencio Batista on Jan. 1, 1959. At the time of the attack, Raul Castro was 22 and Fidel Castro 27. REUTERS/Alejandro Ernesto/Pool (CUBA - Tags: POLITICS ANNIVERSARY) 

Cuba's President Raul Castro (R) talks to Cuba's Revolution Commander and Vice President Ramiro Valdez during an event in honour of the 73 people killed in the 1976 downing of a Cuban airliner in Barbados, in Havana October 6, 2011. Cuban exile and former CIA operative Luis Posada Carriles, the man accused of masterminding the attack on the Cuban airliner on October 6, 1976, currently lives free in Miami. REUTERS/Jorge Luis Banos (CUBA - Tags: POLITICS DISASTER TRANSPORT ANNIVERSARY) 

Cuba's President Raul Castro speaks beside Revolution Commander and Cuba's Vice President Ramiro Valdez (C) and Cuba's Defense Minister General Julio Casas Regueiro (R) during the closing ceremony of Cuban communist congress in Havana April 19, 2011. Regueiro, Cuba's defense minister and longtime aide to President Raul Castro, died on Saturday of heart failure at the age of 75, the Cuban government said. It declared Monday a day of national morning for the former bank accountant who rose to become one of the country's most powerful men. Picture taken April 19, 2011. REUTERS/Desmond Boylan (CUBA - Tags: POLITICS) 

Cuba's Defense Minister General Julio Casas Regueiro stands beside Revolution Commander and Cuba's Vice President Ramiro Valdez (L) during the closing ceremony of Cuban communist congress in Havana April 19, 2011. Regueiro, Cuba's defense minister and longtime aide to President Raul Castro, died on Saturday of heart failure at the age of 75, the Cuban government said. It declared Monday a day of national morning for the former bank accountant who rose to become one of the country's most powerful men. Picture taken April 19, 2011. REUTERS/Desmond Boylan (CUBA - Tags: POLITICS OBITUARY) 

Revolution Commander and Cuba's Vice President Ramiro Valdez (C) cuts the ribbon next to Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Hamadoun Toure (L) of Mali and Cuba's Minister of Communication army general Medardo Diaz Toledo (R) during the opening ceremony of the annual International Technology Fair in Havana February 7, 2011. REUTERS/Stringer (CUBA - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS SCI TECH) 

Cuba's President Raul Castro (R) and Cuba's Minister of Communication Ramiro Valdez stand with others beneath the monument of Cuba's independence hero Jose Marti during the May Day parade in Havana May 1, 2008. Hundreds of thousands of Cubans marched through the square on Thursday on a red-splashed May Day celebration that urged economic gains and increased productivity from workers. REUTERS/Claudia Daut (CUBA) 

Cuba's Minister of Communication Ramiro Valdez addresses the audience during an event for late rebel hero Ernesto "Che" Guevara at Guevara's mausoleum in Santa Clara, Cuba, October 8, 2007. Forty years after he was captured by soldiers in a Bolivian jungle and executed the next day, the Argentine-born Guevara is still a national hero in Cuba where he joined Fidel Castro in an armed uprising that ousted a U.S. backed dictator in 1959. REUTERS/Claudia Daut (CUBA) 

Cuba's acting President Raul Castro (L), Cuba's Minister of Communication Ramiro Valdez (C) and Commander of the Revolution Guillermo Garcia observe a minute of silence during a ceremony for late rebel leader Ernesto "Che" Guevara at Guevara's mausoleum in Santa Clara, Cuba, October 8, 2007. Forty years after he was captured by soldiers in a Bolivian jungle and executed the next day, the Argentine-born Guevara is still a national hero in Cuba where he joined Fidel Castro in an armed uprising that ousted a U.S. backed dictator in 1959. REUTERS/Claudia Daut (CUBA) 

Cuba's Minister of Communication and Commander of the Revolution Ramiro Valdez signs envelopes of the Cuban Five postal stamps during the stamps' launch in Havana September 12, 2007. The launch of the stamps is part of a new international campaign for the liberation of five Cuban men convicted in the U.S. on conspiracy and espionage charges for spying on behalf of Fidel Castro's government. REUTERS/Claudia Daut (CUBA) 

Cuba's Minister of Communication and Commander of the Revolution Ramiro Valdez (R) talks to Ricardo Alarcon, president of Cuba's National Assembly, during the launch of Cuban Five postal stamps in Havana September 12, 2007. The launch of the stamps is part of a new international campaign for the liberation of five Cuban men convicted in the U.S. since 1998 on conspiracy and espionage charges for spying on behalf of Fidel Castro's government. REUTERS/Claudia Daut (CUBA) 

Cuba's acting President Raul Castro (C) stands with Commanders of the Revolution Juan Almeida (L) and Ramiro Valdez after addressing the crowd during an event marking the 1953 assault on the Moncada military barracks in Camaguey, Cuba, July 26, 2007. Castro promised economic improvements in Cuba and decried implacable U.S. hostility in a Revolution Day speech on Thursday, one year after taking over from his brother Fidel. REUTERS/Claudia Daut (CUBA) 

Cuba's acting President Raul Castro (2nd-R) waves the national flag next to one of his granddaughters (R) and the Commanders of the Revolution Juan Almeida (2nd-L) and Ramiro Valdez during an event at Revolution Day festivities in Camaguey, Cuba July 26, 2007. The festivities marks a 1953 assault on a military barracks that failed but nevertheless led to the formation of Castro's revolutionary movement, which toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959. REUTERS/Claudia Daut (CUBA) 

Raul Castro (R), head of Cuba's armed forces and brother of Cuba's President Fidel Castro, and minister of communications Ramiro Valdez look at the crowd during the May Day parade in Revolution Square in Havana May 1, 2007.
REUTERS/Javier Galeano/Pool (CUBA) 

Raul Castro (C), head of Cuba's armed forces and brother of Cuba's President Fidel Castro, minister of communications Ramiro Valdez and Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura watch the May Day parade in Revolution Square in Havana May 1, 2007. REUTERS/Claudia Daut (CUBA) 

Raul Castro (R), head of Cuba's armed forces and brother of Cuba's President Fidel Castro, and minister of communications Ramiro Valdez wave to the crowd during the May Day parade in Revolution Square in Havana, May 1, 2007. REUTERS/Claudia Daut (CUBA) 

Raul Castro (R), head of Cuba's armed forces and brother of Cuba's President Fidel Castro, and minister of communications Ramiro Valdez check the time during the May Day parade in Revolution Square in Havana May 1, 2007. REUTERS/Claudia Daut (CUBA) 

Raul Castro (front), head of Cuba's army and brother of Cuba's President Fidel Castro, votes near Cuba's Minister of Communication Ramiro Valdez during a meeting of the National Assembly in Havana December 22, 2006. Cuba's National Assembly began its year-end session on Friday without ailing leader Fidel Castro, who was last seen in public on July 26. REUTERS/Claudia Daut (CUBA) 

Raul Castro, head of Cuba's army and brother of Cuban President Fidel Castro, listens to a speaker while sitting in front of Cuba's Minister of Communication Ramiro Valdez during a meeting of the National Assembly in Havana December 22, 2006. Cuba's National Assembly began its year-end session on Friday without ailing leader Fidel Castro, who was last seen in public on July 26. REUTERS/Claudia Daut (CUBA) 

Raul Castro (R), head of Cuba's army and brother of Cuba's President Fidel Castro, stands near Cuba's Minister of Communication Ramiro Valdez during a meeting of the National Assembly in Havana December 22, 2006. Cuba's National Assembly began its year-end session on Friday without ailing leader Fidel Castro, who was last seen in public on July 26. REUTERS/Claudia Daut (CUBA) 

Cuban President Fidel Castro (C-front) and Cuban Commander Ramiro Valdez (L) listen to a speaker at Havana's Convention Center, December 2, 2005, during the 30 anniversary of the Cuban military mission "Operation Carlota" in Angola. More than 300,000 Cubans fought in Angola between 1975-1976 and 1981-1989, facing South African troops and contributing to the Popular Movement for Liberation (MPLA) victory. REUTERS/Claudia Daut 

Cuba's Minister of Defense Raul Castro (R) listens December 30 as Revolutionary Commander Ramiro Valdez eulogizes Argentine-born German guerrilla Haydee Bunke Bider and nine other guerrillas, during a ceremony to inter them in the Ernesto "Che" Guevara Memorial in Santa Clara December 30. Bunke, known as "Tania," and the others were killed along with famed revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara in an ambush in Vallegrande, Bolivia on August 31, 1967.
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