Miami, United States. – The commissioner of the city of Miami Manolo Reyes, a renowned member of the Cuban -American community and public service figure in Florida, died this Friday at the age of 80, as confirmed by his family through A statement.
“With deep sadness we announced the death of the commissioner of the city of Miami for district 4, Manolo Reyes,” the family reported without providing additional details about the exact causes of the death.
Reyes had faced various health problems in recent years, including a battle against cancer, a disease that entered into remission in 2019, but that reappeared as leukemia in September 2023, during his campaign for re -election. In February 2024, Reyes announced that he was again referring, although his state of health began to deteriorate shortly after, until he was hospitalized this week.
The late commissioner, born in 1944 in Victoria de las Tunas, Cuba, emigrated with his family to the United States in 1959 after the arrival of Fidel Castro. His father, Ernesto Reyes Payes, was democratically elected mayor in his hometown before the Cuban revolution.
Economist by profession, Reyes obtained his title at the University of Florida in 1977 and worked as a budgetary analyst for the city of Miami, where he participated in significant projects such as Overtown Park West re -urbanization, which marked a turning point in the urban transformation of the city center.
He was also the main budget analyst of the public schools of Miami-Dade County and exercised as an educator in Miami Dade College and in the Westland Hialeah Senior High School high school, where he was in charge of the dual registration program with the International University of Florida (FIU).
Reyes, whose political career began formally in 2017 when he was elected commissioner at the age of 73 years after six failed attempts since 1985, represented District 4 of Miami. He was subsequently re -elected without opposition in 2019.
In an interview with the Miami HeraldReyes said that he conceived public service as a “vocation.” “If you enter the government, you get power to serve, and many people forget about that,” he said. “One does not get power to serve himself. The people give you power to serve it.”
Manolo Reyes promoted important initiatives to modernize Miami and preserve the history and legacy of the Cuban community in the United States. He was appointed president of the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) in 2019, from where he supported the economic revitalization of the center of Miami.
Reyes lived for almost five decades in the emblematic neighborhoods of Flagami and Coral Way with his wife Selva “Chacha” Reyes, with whom he had two children and three grandchildren.
Miami Tomás Regalado said said to Martí News that the city will miss Reyes for its work to improve the quality of life of the residents of District 4 of Miami.
The last public appearance of the commissioner took place on March 21 during a free screening of the film Transformer One In Bryan Park, located in the district he represented.
Details about tributes and funeral services dedicated to Reyes have not yet been informed by the family.
