All of Cuba feels his departure, said Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic of Cuba, on Sunday on the death of Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada.

In his profile on the social network Twitter, the president noted that Alarcón de Quesada was a great patriot and brilliant diplomat.

He added that he defended the work of the Cuban Revolution with passion and solid arguments, making the people of the Island proud.

"Last night has died in Havana, Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada, great patriot and brilliant diplomat of the #CubanRevolution, whose work he defended with passion and solid arguments, making our people proud. All of #Cuba feels his departure."

Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Minrex), expressed on the same digital platform: "all our tribute to dear Ricardo Alarcón in loyalty to the Revolution, the Party, foreign policy and the glorious tradition of @CubaMINREX."

The University of Havana likewise mourned the passing of the prestigious Cuban diplomat and politician, who was about to turn 85 years old.

The Communist Party of Cuba on its website highlights elements of the official biography of Alarcón de Quesada, who was linked from an early age to the revolutionary struggle and the 26th of July Movement.

He was born in Havana on May 21, 1937, and was linked from an early age to the revolutionary struggle. He entered the University of Havana in 1954, joining the revolutionary activities with Fructuoso Rodríguez and the candidacy of the University Student Federation (FEU) headed by José Antonio Echeverría.

During those years, he participated in most of the acts of protest carried out by that organization. He was a collaborator of the Revolutionary Directory and joined the M-26-7 in 1955, where he was the organizer of the student apparatus of the youth brigades of this revolutionary movement.

Among other activities in the student and youth sphere, he was elected Vice President of the FEU in 1959 and president of this organization from 1961 to 1962.

After graduating, in 1962, at the request of Foreign Minister Raúl Roa, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he served as Director of Latin America.

In 1965, Raúl Roa appointed him to head the Cuban Mission to the United Nations, first as Ambassador-at-Large and then as Permanent Representative, a position he held from 1966 to 1978. During this period, he formally and conceptually introduced the issue of Puerto Rican independence at the UN, chaired numerous meetings of the Non-Aligned Movement and was simultaneously Ambassador to several Caribbean countries.

From 1978 to 1988 he was appointed Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was promoted to First Deputy Minister in 1989 and in that position he served again, between 1990 and 1992, as Ambassador to the UN, presiding over the Security Council on two occasions (1990 and 1991), in the particularly difficult conditions created by the disappearance of the Soviet Union and the Socialist Camp. He was the initiator of many of the ideas that today form the basis of calls for reform of the UN Security Council.

Throughout this period, he was part of the Cuban delegation to the peace negotiations in Southern Africa (1988-1990) and was the architect of the idea of presenting a draft resolution on the blockade to the UN General Assembly (1991), the first text of which he personally wrote.

From 1992 to 1993 he was Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Throughout his diplomatic life and also afterwards, he was the head of the Cuban delegations that participated in several negotiations with the United States, including those that led to the signing of the migration agreements of 1984, 1994 and 1995.

He accumulated a brilliant record of service to the Revolution. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Party and a member of its Political Bureau. In 1993 he was elected President of the National Assembly of People's Power, a position he held for 20 years, until 2013.

He played a key role, under the personal leadership of the Commander in Chief, in the battles for the return of the child Elián González and the release of the Five Heroes.

For his outstanding revolutionary trajectory, he received different decorations.

According to his wishes, his body was cremated. Later, the family will organize a posthumous tribute to his memory. Our deepest condolences go to his relatives, friends and the people who admired him.

(Taken from Agencia Cubana de Noticias)