Cuban General Raul Tomassevich Dies

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GENERAL RAUL MENENDEZ TOMASSEVICH DIES

HAVANA, Aug 17 (AP) - Gen. Raul Menendez Tomassevich, who fought with Fidel
Castro's rebels in the late 1950s and went on to become a top military
leader, died Friday.

Cuban state media reported his death. His exact age was not given, but he
was in his early 80s.

While in the rebel army that eventually triumphed over the dictatorship of
Fulgencio Batista on Jan. 1, 1959, Menendez Tomassevich reached the rank of
commander of an important eastern front named for the revolutionary hero
Frank Pais.

Known as "Tomas" to his friends, Menendez Tomassevich fought at the Bay of
Pigs against an invading army of CIA-backed exiles in 1961, and was an
important commander of Cuban troops in Angola two decades later.

He was a founding member of the Communist Party of Cuba and served on its
Central Committee for 25 years. He also served for many years as a member of
the National Assembly.

Burial was scheduled for Friday in the Revolutionary Armed Forces section of
the Colon Cemetery. No information was immediately available on his
survivors.

(c) 2001 The Associated Press

AP-NY-08-17-01 1554EDT

 
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