A man who had a lot to say

One hundred years ago, one of the most popular chroniclers of his time was born: playwright and journalist Enrique Nuñez Rodríguez, editorialist of the Juventud Rebelde newspaper. He was also librettist for radio and television, author of renowned comedies for theater and of several books written with very local and refined humor, where he narrated the adventures of his own life and those of his contemporaries.

He was loved by everyone. He was a very easy going person. He was enemy of intellectual stances, stranger to formalism and sterile protocols. He knew he was a man of the people. And thus he devoted his entire work to that people.

Few people have managed to recreate the national identity as he did. In his chronicles, whose starting points were usually small events, he managed to portray a convincing picture of more or less popular characters, who were adorned by his colorful notes.

Comedy was his niche. His passionate love was the vernacular theater. He was a profound Cuban man.

He is the local pride in Quemado de Guines, his hometown. Thousands of readers remember and miss him alike. Reading his great work is delightful and evocative. That Cuba portrayed by Nuñez Rodríguez is not about geography, but the human side. The people who made up a nation.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff