HAVANA, Cuba.- The President of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel, lamented this Tuesday the death of the Venezuelan Ambassador on the island, Ali Rodriguez Araque, and expressed his solidarity to the family of the prominent revolutionary.

Our felt embrace to the Bolivarian family who suffers the loss of an exemplary revolutionary, Ali Rodriguez Araque, Ambassador of #Venezuela in #Cuba. Guerrilla, political, intellectual and Latin American, already inseparable from #Cuba. So long, bro. #SomosCuba, the President wrote in his Twitter account @DiazCanelB.

Rodriguez Araque was an active guerrilla leader against the prevailing right-wing governments in the South American nation in the 1960´s and 1970´s.

After the triumph of the Bolivarian Revolution he held important positions in the administrations of then-President Hugo Chavez (1954-2013), including Minister of Energy and Mines-Energy and Oil, Chancellor and head of Economy and Finance.

He also served as President of the Union of South American Nations and in 2014 went on to lead the diplomatic representation of Venezuela in Cuba until his death in Havana.