MIAMI, United States. – The Cuban poet Teresa Melo Rodríguez died on Monday night at the age of 61, reported the official media cubadebate.
According to that web portal, Melo Rodríguez, born in Santiago de Cuba on October 21, 1961, was “one of the primary lyrical voices of the 1980s.”
The writer, after graduating in Philosophy from the University of Havana, came to work as editor and director of Ediciones Santiago. She was a member of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, as well as an Honorary Member of the Hermanos Saíz Association.
Throughout his life he received the Nicolás Guillén Poetry Prize, as well as the La Puerta de Papel and Literary Critic awards. He was also awarded Distinction for National Culture, granted by the Ministry of Culture.
Cubadebate recalls that “in parallel with her poetic, journalistic and essay creation, Teresa carried out extensive work as an editor and promoter of books and literature. She was director-editor of the magazine domes, from the Higher Institute of Art; member of the creative teams of the magazines Sic, Bearded Caiman Y the jiribilla; director of the Provincial Center for Books and Literature in Santiago de Cuba; editor and director of Ediciones Santiago and literary promoter of the Caguayo Foundation. She was also coordinator of the International Poets of the Caribbean Festival, an annual event inserted in the Festival of the Caribbean.
Melo Rodríguez was also a staunch critic of all the dissident voices of the Cuban regime. In November 2020, she assured in the official newspaper Granma criticized the San Isidro Movement and particularly its leader, the artivist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara. On that occasion, he said that he was not represented by anyone who insulted the flag and had “vulgarity, contempt, antisocial and exhibitionist behavior as allies.”
The propaganda work of Melo Rodríguez in favor of the Cuban regime cubadebate He called it “great artistic sensitivity” and “humanistic projection,” as well as “courage to defend the best causes” and “unwaivable vocation of service to his Revolution and his people.”
