Cuban Leader Raul Castro Monday presided over the funeral of late defense minister Julio Casas Regueiro, who died Saturday at the age of 75 due to a cardiac arrest.

People pay tribute to the portrait of the Cuba's Defense Minister and Vice President General Julio Casas Regueiro at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (MINFAR), in Havana, capital of Cuba, on Sept. 5, 2011. General Casas died on Saturday of heart failure at 75, according to military reports. (Xinhua/Joaquin Hernandez)
With the presence of some 250 senior officials, Castro announced that Regueiro would be named as Labor Hero of the Republic of Cuba for his "outstanding record of service to the Revolution and his defense of the national economy."

The public was allowed to pay tribute to Regueiro after the funeral.

The State Council already declared three days of official mourning, with national flags lowered to half mast at all government institutions.

Regueiro was a close associate to Raul Castro when the current Cuban leader was the country's military chief, and he was promoted to defense minister after Raul Castro assumed power in 2008.

An accountant by profession, Regueiro was known for masterminding the economic program that turned the Cuban military into a "self-profitable company." That includes launching tourism programs to earn foreign currency for the military, fostering a defense industry capable of producing and maintaining weaponry, and creating military agricultural enterprises to feed the soldiers.

The initiative that helped to cover the military expenses was the prelude to the broad economic overhaul ordered by Raul Castro recently.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet