Of humble origins, self-taught, a carpenter and cabinetmaker, and a communist from a young age, Severo Aguirre del Cristo went on to become an honorary doctorate recipient, a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party since its founding, president of the Cuban Parliament, and ambassador of our country to the former Soviet Union.
He was born on May 1, 1912, in Havana, into a working-class family, and died 34 years ago, on January 13, 1992, at the age of 79, after dedicating his entire life to the revolutionary cause.His first political activities date back to 1930, when he joined the Communist Youth League of Cuba (LJCC), the youth organization of the Communist Party, and served as its General Secretary from 1932 until its dissolution in 1943. Simultaneously, he joined the Union of Cooperatives and worked in the Directorate of International Workers' Defense, the Cuban section of the International Red Aid.He suffered persecution and imprisonment during the tyranny of Gerardo Machado, and in 1934, the year after the overthrow of the Machado dictatorship, he participated clandestinely in the Second Congress of the First Marxist-Leninist Party as a fraternal delegate of the Communist Youth League.At this same Congress, he was formally admitted to the party and elected to its Central Committee.
He led the delegation of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League to the Sixth International Congress of Communist Youth held in Moscow in 1934, where he was elected to the Executive Committee of this organization, a position he held until its dissolution in 1944. Severo actively participated in the fight against Nazi-fascism during the years of World War II.From 1950 onward, he worked within the party's clandestine apparatusIn 1951, he collaborated in the organizational and development efforts of the Communist Party of Guatemala and its labor federation.When Jacobo Arbens's government was overthrown in 1954, he moved to the Soviet Union and then to Mexico, following instructions from the party. He returned to Cuba in 1955 and joined the Executive Bureau of the Popular Socialist Party to head the Agrarian Commission.
In 1958, he traveled to Venezuela, Brazil, and Uruguay to inform the communist parties of those countries about the objective of the Cuban people's revolutionary war against the bloody dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. Upon his return, he carried out intelligence and coordination missions in the guerrilla zone of Commander Ernesto Guevara in the Escambray Mountains.
Later, he joined Carlos Rafael Rodríguez, the Popular Socialist Party's permanent delegate, in Column 1, commanded by Fidel Castro in the Sierra Maestra mountains, until the victory of January 1959, and accompanied the rebel column in its triumphant entry into Santiago de Cuba.
After the triumph of the Revolution, he continued his work alongside the Revolution, fulfilling his assigned tasks as First Deputy Minister of the National Institute of Agrarian Reform and later Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences at the University of Havana.He was a member of the National Directorate of the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations (ORI) from its founding on March 8, 1962, and later a founder of the new Communist Party of Cuba and a member of its Central Committee from 1962. Internationally, he led the Cuban delegation that attended the 21st Congress of the CPSU in the USSR, held in January 1959. He served as Cuba's ambassador to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1973 and was a member of the Technical Advisory Council of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Due to his merits and prestige, the people elected him to the Cuban parliament, where he became President of the National Assembly of People's Power during the Third Legislature, assuming the position following the death of Flavio Bravo Pardo, who had been serving as Vice President.
Despite lacking prior academic training, he recognized the importance of the scientific development of human resources. As Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences in Havana, he initiated the training of the first graduates to earn scientific degrees, at a time when Severo was already a Doctoral Candidate.As Dean, he visited theoretical and practical classes to observe their progress and promoted postgraduate studies, university research, and the integration of students and professors with production units as part of their comprehensive education.
As Dean, he visited theoretical and practical classes to observe their progress and promoted postgraduate studies, university research, and the integration of students and professors with production units as part of their comprehensive education.
He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Higher Veterinary School of Kosice, Czechoslovakia.He received numerous national decorations, was Professor Emeritus of the University, and founded the Animal Improvement Research Center.He initiated courses on Marxism-Leninism for faculty and emphasized the importance of professors writing books based on the knowledge and experience gained through their research.
His legacy as a revolutionary and communist is always remembered by the people in all important tasks.