1971.  Juan Tomás Roig y Mesa died in the town of Santiago de las Vegas, Havana.

He was a Cuban sage who was said to have searched for the secret of nature in plants. Throughout his existence he wrote important books for science, such as the Botanical Dictionary of Cuban Vulgar Names and Medicinal, Aromatic or Poisonous Plants of Cuba. When he died, a guaican tree was planted next to his grave, a tree that he studied carefully, to fulfill the wish that his body would nourish it and live in the beauty of its trunk, branches and flowers.

2015.   Belarmino Castilla Más passed away. He was born in the city of Santiago de Cuba on July 18, 1934.

He participated in important actions, among them, the combat of Los Indios, the capture of Minas de Ocujal on two occasions, the combat of El Socorro and the battle of Sagua de Tánamo.  At the end of the war he held the rank of Commander of the Rebel Army.

After the triumph of the Revolution, he held important responsibilities in the Revolutionary Armed Forces, from Chief of Staff of the then Eastern Army to Chief of the General Staff of the FAR.

He was Minister of Education and Vice President of the Council of Ministers. He was a member of the Central Committee from its foundation until the Second Congress of the Party and was a deputy to the National Assembly of People's Power in its first legislature.

For his services to the Revolution he received numerous orders and decorations