The gift was delivered to the leader of the Cuban Revolution on June 3, the date of his birthday, by an official from the Cuban Foreign Ministry.

Army General Raul Castro, who has been away from public office, but not from social events, participated, along with his brother Fidel, in the attack on the Moncada Barracks (1953), the landing of the Granma yacht (1956) and the guerrilla struggle in Sierra Maestra (1956-1958) against the Fulgencio Batista tyranny.

He was chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) from 1959 to 2008, when he took over the presidency of the Councils of State and of Ministers for a decade.

He also held the highest leadership of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) between 2011 and 2021.

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