On one of his last jumps.    Photo: Courtesy of the family.

Havana, April 20 (JIT) --Juan Barriento Columbié, for years a bastion of skydiving in Cuba, died as a result of a complex illness.

One of the founding fathers of this extreme sport on the island, Professor Barriento, as everyone called him, was cremated and his ashes will be scattered next August 13 in the city of Baracoa, as part of the competition he created and led there, dedicated to Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz.

A native of Sagua de Tánamo, he trained hundreds of Guantanamo paratroopers since his years at the head of the Military Patriotic Education Society (Sepmi), which he also founded in 1984.

Born on February 8, 1957, Barriento made more than 3 thousand jumps, with the expertise of an expert instructor of the Cuban Youth Parachuting Team, which led him to win several national and international championships.

A combatant in the war in Angola, he was also director of Espa and deputy director of Inder in the easternmost territory of the island.

The youngest of 11 siblings, he was also an internationalist on two occasions in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, as part of the Barrio Adentro Deportivo program.

Barriento, a People's Power district delegate for several terms, leaves behind three children, among them Leonardo Barriento Arias, also a paratrooper and a physical culture teacher in the city of Guantánamo.