Economist and prominent political dissident, Vladimiro Roca Antunez, passed away on Sunday in Havana at the age of 80 due to a cerebrovascular complication. Roca, who was a well-known figure in the opposition movement in Cuba, died at his Nuevo Vedado apartment where he had been under the care of his niece, Vivian Roca. Vivian revealed that he had been in deteriorating health for several months, experiencing frequent small strokes and memory loss.
Vladimiro Roca was widely recognized as an emblematic personality within the political dissidence that challenged Fidel Castro’s regime. He staunchly defended his differing leftist views, influenced by his family traditions. Born in Havana on December 21, 1942, Roca was the son of Blas Roca, a founding leader of the Popular Socialist Party (PSP), and a prominent figure within the revolutionary power until his death. Roca completed his primary education in La Víbora neighborhood and began his career as an apprentice compositor in the PSP-affiliated newspaper, Hoy, after finishing high school.
At the age of 18, Roca was selected to train as a fighter-bomber pilot in the Soviet Union, becoming part of the first elite class of young men to do so. Following his return to Cuba, he served within the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba (FAR) for a decade. Roca later graduated with a degree in International Economic Relations in 1987 and held various government positions until irreconcilable differences with the country’s political direction led to his dissent.
In 1991, Roca openly expressed his opposition to the socialist Constitution, a document his father had significantly contributed to establishing during his presidency of the National Assembly of Popular Power in 1976. Subsequently, he was dismissed from his government job, and his dissident activities became public. Roca co-founded the Social Democratic Party of Cuba in 1996 and participated in the creation of the Internal Dissidence Working Group a year later. This group aimed to analyze and propose solutions to Cuba’s critical economic situation.
Alongside other dissident thinkers, Martha Beatriz Roque, Felix Bonne Carcasses, and Rene Gomez Manzano, Roca co-authored the influential document “The homeland belongs to everyone.” The publication criticized Cuba’s economic and social disaster while advocating for democratic and multiparty reforms. The Castro brothers, Fidel and Raúl, were infuriated by its release, resulting in the imprisonment of its authors in 1997 on charges of sedition and crimes against the national security of the Cuban state.
Roca served a lengthy prison sentence until 2002 but continued his political activism and staunch defense of human rights in Cuba even after his release. In 2010, he was among the activists who managed to attend the funeral of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, an opposition member who died during a hunger strike demanding freedom for political prisoners, in Banes, Holguín province.
Roca’s family has decided to cremate his body in the coming hours, and no funeral services have been scheduled at this time. His passing marks the loss of a significant figure in the Cuban opposition movement and leaves behind a legacy of unwavering dedication to democratic reforms and human rights in the country.