GENERAL of the Army Ra

GENERAL of the Army Ra¨²l Castro Ruz, president of the Councils of State and Ministers, led the tribute given yesterday by the Cuban people to Commander of the Revolution Juan Almeida.

Ra¨²l heads tribute of the peopleTogether with Almeida’s family, those present included members of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba, its Central Committee, and other swing machines high-ranking Cuban leaders who, visibly moved, placed flowers in front of a photo of the Hero of the Republic of Cuba, surrounded by wreaths and a display of they many decorations he received during his revolutionary career.

Flags at half-mast and silent plazas received more than two million Cubans who, saddened at the loss of one akoya pearl necklace of their homeland’s most loyal men, joined in endless, hushed lines at 370 points located in provincial and municipal capitals and major towns to pay just tribute to Commander of the Revolution Juan Almeida Bosque.

In front of a photo of the comandante, placed in the most emblematic sites of every corner of the country, there were bows, tears, military salutes, conspiratorial winks and flowers left by children who surely heard, as their parents conversed, about the silver pearl necklace greatness of the man who everyone is remembering today. There was no tranquility for any Cuban after learning of the painful news.