MADRID, Spain.- Numerous personalities of Cuban culture died in the year that has just ended. Some due to their advanced age, others younger due to illness or unexpectedly. The death of these people, whom we remember today in CubaNet, shocked Cubans inside and outside of Cuba.
Gina Cabrera
As soon as 2022 began, the actress and founder of Cuban TV Gina Cabrera passed away. Known as “the Queen of Drama in Cuba” for her work as an interpreter, she died at the age of 93 in Havana.
In 1953 the Elbow Magazine He appointed her along with Raquel Revuelta as one of the first actresses on television. In 1954 she stood out for her participation in memory smokein woman dreams and in other works of literature brought to television. She ventured into all genres (comedies, tragedies, novels, adventures, theater and children’s programs, among others).
Suylen Milanes Benett
In the same month, the singer and music producer Suylén Milanés Benett died at the age of only 50, due to a cardiovascular accident.
Suylén Milanés, eldest daughter of the troubadour Pablo Milanés and Yolanda Benett, following in the footsteps of her family, graduated in Singing and Choral Conducting at the “Amadeo Roldán” Conservatory in Havana.
She was the general director and producer of the cultural institution PM Records. In 2017 she founded the Eyeife Cuban electronic music festival. In 2020 she created the group SOMOS, which gives visibility to the work of women in the music industry on the Island.
Ernesto Rancano
The plastic artist Ernesto Rancaño died in Havana in February, at the age of 53, a victim of cancer.
Rancaño, who was born in the country’s capital in 1968, was a graduate of the San Alejandro Academy. Throughout his career, he had more than a dozen personal exhibitions in Cuba, Spain, the United States, Panama, Mexico, and England. During his professional career he also dedicated himself to illustrating books and other publications.
Jose Luis Cortes
In April, the musician José Luis Cortés, popularly known as El Tosco, died. José Luis Cortés, who was 70 years old when he died, worked as a flutist, arranger, composer and music producer. Likewise, he displayed an extensive and prolific career within the Cuban artistic scene.
He is the author of hits like “Santa palabra”, “La expresiva”, “Lelolei”, “La apretadora”, “La bruja”, “Échale limón” and “La cachimba”.
Jacqueline Fumero
The prominent fashion designer and businesswoman Jacqueline Fumero passed away in Havana, at the age of 56, last May.
During her professional career, she brought to light several collections inspired by and focused on Cuban and Caribbean women.
She also highlighted her work as a businesswoman in Cuba, managing for several years the Café del Ángel, a café-boutique located in the striking Plazuela del Ángel in Old Havana.
Alexis Diaz de Villegas
In the sixth month of 2022, the popular and talented actor Alexis Díaz de Villegas died of cancer, at 56 years of age.
During the years in which he recorded his best-known role, Juan de los Muertos, he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, from which he recovered, but which recurred after a decade.
The actor, born in 1966, in Cumanayagua, managed to become one of the best talents of his generation, and was recognized during his career by critics and the public. He served in the theater, film and television.
Fine Garcia-Marruz
Also in June, Fina García-Marruz, poet and essayist, died. Together with her husband, the poet Cintio Vitier, she was part of the Orígenes Group and the magazine of the same name founded by José Lezama Lima and José Rodríguez Feo in 1944, which became the most important literary publication of the time. .
His extensive poetic work includes the lost glances (1951), visitationss (1970), downtown havana (1997), Charlotte credits (1990) and old melodies (1993).
When he died he was 99 years old.
Raul Castillo
Raúl Castillo, one of the most renowned Cuban dressmakers in recent decades, passed away in July at the age of 64.
Castillo created the Avances fashion group in 1983, at just 24 years of age. From that moment on, her work was disseminated for years by the media on the island. Her frequent appearances on radio and television programs together with her charisma made her gain popularity among Cubans.
Cesar “Pupy” Pedroso
Shortly after, the death of the musician César “Pupy” Pedroso was revealed.
“Pupy” Pedroso, pianist, arranger and composer, since 2001 he was the director of the orchestra “Pupy y los que Son, Son”, founded by him after separating from Los Van Van. He had been a founder of the latter together with Juan Formell, in 1969. For The Van Van He composed some of his best-known songs such as “That’s good”, “Today we have six weeks”, “Temba, tumba, timba” and “El negro está cocinando”.
Pedroso, together with Juan Formell and José Luis Quintana, contributed to the creation of the songo rhythm.
César “Pupy” Pedroso passed away in Havana at the age of 75.
noel garcia
Also in July, the actor Noel García died, who was part of several dramatized and humorous shows on Cuban television until the 1990s. In the 1980s he ventured into various spaces, such as adventures the mambisito and the humorous if it weren’t for mom.
During the 90s he participated in the telenovela The patio orange treealong with Miguel Navarro, Luisa María Jiménez and Ofelita Núñez, and in the cinema he could be seen in Waiting list Y The horn of plentyboth by Juan Carlos Tabío.
Ivan Naples
In the same month, the cinematographer Iván Nápoles died, at the age of 89, a victim of cancer.
Nápoles began working as a lighting technician in nightclubs and on television in the 1950s.
In 1961, he joined the Latin American ICAIC Newscast, created by Santiago Álvarez, with whom he was very close for much of his career. Under the direction of Álvarez arrives Cyclone in 1963, his first documentary; later Cerro Pelado, Hanoi, Tuesday 13, 79 springsamong others.
Iván Nápoles received the National Film Award in March 2016, the highest distinction awarded by ICAIC.
Cosme Proenza Almaguer
Victim of COVID-19, the painter, cartoonist and muralist Cosme Proenza Almaguer died on September 12, at the age of 74.
Cosme Proenza was one of the most recognized artists cubans.
Aurora Basnuevo
Shortly after, Cubans mourned the death of actress, singer and presenter Aurora Basnuevo Hernández.
Basnuevo, popular among Cubans for her character as Estelvina, in the program after-dinner joys from the Radio Progreso station, he intervened in dramatized spaces dedicated to theater, stories and comedies. In addition, she worked on musical programs, unfolding as a comedian, singer and presenter.
Known as La Mulatísima, she dedicated a large part of her artistic career to radio.
Since 1960 she was married to fellow actor Mario Limonta, who survives her, and whom she met on the show The supreme court of art, by Jose Antonio Alonso.
Aurora Basnuevo was 86 years old when she died.
Mario Balmaseda
The also renowned Cuban theater, television and film actor, Mario Balmaseda, died in October at the age of 81.
During more than fifty years of artistic career, he intervened in important Cuban films such as The man from Maisinicú (1973), In a certain way (1974), It is exchanged (1984) and between cyclones (2002).
In 2006 he won the National Theater Award, in 2019 the National Television Award and last March he was awarded the 2021 National Film Award.
Rogelio Martinez Fure
The ethnologist, writer and folklorist Rogelio Martínez Furé, a diligent researcher of African influences in Cuban culture, died in October at the age of 85.
Martínez Furé, who in 1962 was one of the creators of the National Folkloric Ensemble, received numerous distinctions and the National Literature Award in 2016. But in the 1970s, during the so-called gray decadewas retaliated for being religious and homosexual.
Eugenio Hernandez Espinosa
One of the classic authors of Cuban drama, Eugenio Hernández Espinosa, also died in October.
National Theater Award in 2005, and for Literature in 2020, he bequeathed works such as María Antonia, My partner Manolo, Calixta Comité, Emelina Cundiamor Y Little Stepping Lizard.
On the other hand, in the cinema he was responsible for scripts and adaptations of plays. His filmography includes the tapes patakin (1982), The useless death of my partner Manolo (1989), scent oak (2003) and The oldest (2020).
Juan Moreira
In the tenth month of the year, the death, at the age of 83, of the renowned painter Juan Moreira was also reported.
Graduated in 1963 from the San Alejandro School of Fine Arts, where he later taught drawing classes, throughout his career he accumulated twenty personal exhibitions and dozens of group shows.
In its creation, his work as an illustrator of editions of The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quijote of La Manchaand his participation in the murals of the Havana Libre Hotel in the capital.
Jesus Cabrera Acosta
Television director Jesús Cabrera Acosta passed away in November at the age of 96.
Cabrera Acosta directed numerous programs, many of them sponsored by the Ministry of the Interior (MININT), such as Lto the border of duty, Julito the fisherman, It had to be in silence, Sector 40 Y after the footprint. He was part of the production team of the latter from 2004 until his retirement in 2013.
Pablo Milanes
On November 22, the singer-songwriter Pablo Milanés, one of the founders of Nueva Trova, died in Spain.
Pablo Milanés was admitted to a hospital in Madrid due to the effects of a series of recurring infections. The Casa de América, in Madrid, hosted the singer-songwriter’s funeral chapel, where friends, family and followers of Pablo Milanés paraded to say their last goodbye to the musician.
While in his recording studio PM Records, located on 11th street, between I and J, in Vedado, on the occasion of his death, a condolence book to pay tribute to him.
He was buried in the Las Rozas cemetery, near the Spanish capital.
Milanés was born in Bayamo, Granma, on February 24, 1943. In his beginnings he was greatly influenced by traditional Cuban music and by feeling.
Around 1966 Milanés was sent by the island’s regime to the Military Production Aid Units (UMAP) in the Camagüey area. After fleeing to Havana to denounce the injustices committed in what he called “a Stalinist concentration camp” in 2015, he was imprisoned for two months in La Cabaña and then sent to a punishment camp, where he remained until the dissolution of the UMAP. , at the end of 1967.
In 1968 he offered his first concert with Silvio Rodríguez at the Casa de las Américas. This would be the first sample of what would later, in 1972, emerge as the Nueva Trova musical movement.
Milanés belonged to the ICAIC Sound Experimentation Group and composed numerous themes for the cinema.
Among his most popular songs are “Yo no te pido”, “Los años mozos”, “Cuba va”, “Yolanda”, “Don’t ask me”, “Pobre del cantor”, “Para vivir”, “Hombre que vas growing up”, “I will step on the streets again” and “The brief space in which you are not”.
herminia sanchez
The actress Herminia María Sánchez Quintana, remembered by the Cuban television audience for her performances in the adventures Black and White Yes and the soap opera Diana, He died this December at the age of 99.
Although born in Barcelona, she moved to Cuba at the age of six, where she developed an extensive career in film, theater and television.
National Theater Award 2019, for the cinema he intervened in films such as Lucia, Hello Hemingway Y Havana-Eva.
However, his greatest imprint is related to the theater, where his first performances were in the plays The discreet lover Y electrain which he shared the stage with Rosita FornesAsenneh Rodríguez, Adolfo Llauradó, Raquel Revuelta and Abelardo Estorino, among others.
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