On his Twitter profile, the Cuban head of State noted that Rebel Army Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro appointed them to those high ranks in 1958.

Raul and Almeida, commanders from the Sierra Maestra mountain range. They grew up as heroes and are examples of revolutionaries. They won their people’s affection, Diaz-Canel tweeted.

After their promotion, Captains Raul Castro, 26, and Juan Almeida Bosque, 31, commanded the guerrilla columns 6 and 3, respectively.

Both leaders participated in the attacks on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba and the Carlos Manuel de Cespedes Garrison in Bayamo, in eastern Cuba. They were imprisoned and exiled in Mexico, from where they returned as members of the Granma Yacht expedition in 1956 to form the nucleus of the Rebel Army that fought against the Fulgencio Batista dictatorship (1952-1959).

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