Cuban internationalism has many names. David Raúl Puig Méndez, is one of them. Although he was born in the former province of Oriente, he settled in San Antonio de los Baños. Together with the Ariguanabenses, he joined the fight for the liberation of Angola.
David Raúl Puig Méndez was born in Juan Claro Cay on October 12, 1948. His parents, Juan and Enriqueta, formed a long family of twelve children, and he was one of his newest offspring. Juan worked in the port and Enriqueta took care of the family. Raul began primary school at the public school of El Cayo. In 1959 the family settled in the city of Puerto Padre, where he finished 6th grade at Camilo Cienfuegos. He attended secondary education at the Urban High School (ESBU) Salvador Cisneros Betancourt. He studied at the School of Agronomy in Mayarí Arriba, abandoning his studies to work. Like most of his family, Raul stood out in the Amateur Artists Movement.
He worked in the Municipal Directorate of Culture and then served as head of Basic Media in the Municipal Directorate of the Public Health System. In 1978 he served in the Sports Department on the Isle of Youth and then in Güira de Melena. At the Iván Portuondo Hospital, he worked as Chief of Staff at the end of the seventies. In 1981 he returned to Puerto Padre to perform the same responsibility at the Guillermo Domínguez health institution.
David Raúl Puig Méndez, returned to Havana as head of Construction Maintenance. He married in the capital city and in 1983 his only daughter Merling was born. Just in that year he was summoned to fulfill an internationalist mission in the People's Republic of Angola. He died on August 7, 1984 in African lands. As a young revolutionary, he belonged to various organizations. He was a reservist of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and attended numerous civil and military mobilizations.
For his dedication to work and his internationalist vocation, David Raúl Puig Méndez is an example to be imitated for the new generations.