Cuban general Lopez-Calleja dead of heart attack, state media says

Cuban general Luis Alberto Rodriguez Lopez-Calleja, one of the country's most powerful men, died on Friday of a heart attack, state media reported. Lopez-Calleja, 62, was once married to former Cuban leader Raul Castro´s daughter Deborah.

Cuban general Luis Alberto Rodriguez Lopez-Calleja, one of the country's most powerful men, died on Friday of a heart attack, state media reported. Lopez-Calleja, 62, was once married to former Cuban leader Raul Castro´s daughter Deborah. He was a key member of Cuba´s political bureau, the ruling Communist Party's highest decision-making body.

A short article in the Communist Party newspaper Granma lamented Lopez-Calleja´s death, hailing his "brilliant record of services to the Homeland and the Cuban Revolution". A close confidant of Raul Castro, he was also head of GAESA, a conglomerate of military-owned companies that manage vast areas of Cuba´s economy.

U.S. President Donald Trump in 2020 put Lopez-Calleja on a list of "Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons," a U.S. blacklist that prohibits U.S. people or companies from dealing with him, and blocked his assets.