Leo Benítez: “Julio has a lot of feelings”

Leo Benítez is one of CubaSí’s best friends. So meeting him again at the 2022 Piña Colada Music Festival was like a gift we enjoyed a lot. Of course, we approached and asked him about his character in this new season of the TV show Tras las Huella.

It happens that officer Julio looks a lot to the sort of character this versatile actor loves to impersonate:

In the three episodes of the case “A la roca,” we could see Julio’s feelings as he recruited a new undercover agent. She is not like Mirita, the former agent everybody knows, who is a strong woman. This girl is rather fearful and there are times she breaks and that is when Julio stands by her and his human values blossom as he calms her, encourages her, and tells her everything is going to be all right. We could also see some disagreement with his superior regarding the safety of that young girl.

There, we could see Julio’s feelings. He is a very funny guy, but he is also a man with strong feelings…”

We also saw him in his element when he played the first black Casanova in the history of Cuban soap operas, Maykel Yunior. That is why we are not in awe when we see him flirting, that mix of honey and cinnamon…:

“There are scenes where the viewing audience may wonder if there is something going on between Julio and his new agent, who is, indeed, a beautiful woman. I think it is very good. I know it is a crime genre, but we should add some elements that actually help people to fall in love with the crime fiction. There was a time I told her: “You are becoming a woman” and she answered back “I am already a woman and you know it,” then Julio stares at her and change his look…That was not scripted. I did so the audience asks many questions and take this police officer out of his role of officer. He is a man, a human being.”

Although we share the view he could do even more, for the greater good of the TV show itself and the image portrayed by real MININT officials, we will enjoy new stories with this character until the last week of September.

"In the upcoming episodes you will see a tug-of-war between Julio and Major Lucía, they have this love-hate relationship. People already saw us together at the shooting ground, where she is the one who beats me, doing weights in the gym; in self-defense scenes…You're going to see a lot more of the human relationships between these characters."

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff