Oscar Fernández Mel (Colón, 24 / III / 1931 - Havana, 23 / VI / 2019)
Graduated as a doctor in Orthopedics and Traumatology at the University of Havana (1956), he provided services to clandestine wounded or injured combatants in Colón. Recorded by the intelligence services of the Batista tyranny, he went up to the Sierra Maestra. He joined the invading column No.8 Ciro Redondo led by Che, who promoted him to Captain of the Rebel Army and appointed him Chief of the Medical Services of the aforementioned column.
He fulfilled numerous responsibilities during the Revolution in Power: President of the National Medical College, Chief of the FAR Medical Services, Chief of the General Staff of the Western Army, National Chief of the Youth Labor Army (EJT) and Vice Minister of the FAR, member of the first Central Committee of the PCC and Deputy to the National Assembly, President of the Provincial Assembly of People's Power in Havana from 1976 to 1986, and ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Finland. He was a personal doctor of Che and his family, integrating in 1965 the Cuban internationalist guerrilla that fought in the Congo. He has received numerous decorations inside and outside the country. On August 8, 2016, the Municipal Administration Council granted him the title of Illustrious Son of Columbus. He resides today in Havana.