Renecito de la Cruz: "This has to be a country of inclusion; accept everyone, no matter how they think"

With the blood of artists running through his veins,Renecito de la Cruz It is one with capital letters. Violinist, orchestra director, baseball player... finally actor and director, the son of that great actor who was René de la Cruz and the renowned concert pianist Pura Ortíz lives a splendid maturity.

I met him again during the staging of Teatro del Sol, with the iconic "My Partner Manolo".

Of course, the conversation arose spontaneously, remembering old times when we were young and thus I confirmed that the person born in the Cuban capital has his intellect focused on many objectives.

How good that reunion was! Welcome you to the theater doing a play that I respect, whose premiere I saw 30 years ago, starring two great actors and friends of my father, Mario Balmaceda and Pedro Rentería, and directed by the immense Silvano Suárez. It has been very nice to see you in the theater, really!

I know you don't stop your walk; Before "Mi Socio Manolo" you had just arrived from Spain.

That's how it is. I made some presentations with the musician David Álvarez, an experience that we began in 2018, in a production that I was lucky enough to do through a book of stories titled Los Tesoros de mi Viaje by the Spanish writer Susana Munís, a show that was conceived by the stories that she was telling the viewers; I acted them out and David put them to music according to his interpretation.

Along with David were Rolando Luna on piano, Lino Lore on bass, Jose on drums and Guayo and his son Arre on percussion. You can imagine the spectacle!

I remember that this work was presented in Havana.

Yes, in the Sala Llauradó and in the Fine Arts theater; A documentary directed by Rigoberto Senarega was made and then we toured Cuba, something very nice.

In 2019, Susana called us from Madrid, who were going to publish the book and wanted to do it in conjunction with the show. Everything came together satisfactorily and David and I traveled to the Iberian capital. There the rest of the companions joined us.

We made presentations in Madrid, Valencia and Cádiz. That struggle together led David and me to focus on new purposes and we prepared a show based on a text by Juan José Téllez, Andalusian writer, narrator and novelist; a specialist in Paco de Lucía and Camarón de la Isla.

The dramaturgy was based on the story “The Hour of Mirages” but the COVID pandemic, literally speaking, took us off the plane. This allowed us to mature the show, we included songs from the old trova, from David... all from the Havana boardwalk!

The pandemic finally passed and both we and the public, so in need of each other, came together and enjoyed. Thus we return to the same Hispanic cities, a fact that we repeat in November 2022, coinciding with the hard physical loss of a great Cuban, son of Bayamo, great father, brother, musician, artist, glory of Cuba, from whom I always received a lot of affection , he called me nephew, the immense Pablo Milanés.

This year the tour, for three months, included Alicante, Valencia, Cádiz and Madrid. A lot of effort but very nice: sharing with colleagues, friends, brothers from Spain and Cuba.

And I tell you that I arrived on a Sunday night in Havana and early Monday I entered the Sala Llauradó, which was celebrating its 20 years of creation, of which I am the founder, and presented none other than "My Partner Manolo." Tired but happy.

Theater! The queen of the performing arts?

You are very right. I enjoy them all, but theater is sublime, it is the one that excites me the most. That audience that is in the room and laughs and cries just like you, with seas and jungles of lies and that the viewer assumes as real. It's something fascinating. That is why I never agreed with the “new connoisseurs” and “specialists” who proposed doing online theater, which is not the same as theater on television.

By the way, another lost television space. In Cuba, a very good space was created: Teatro ICR, with a language specific to that stage manifestation. Another good program, El Cuento, also disappeared.

Roberto Garriga, Abel Ponce, Silvano Suárez, Vázquez Gallo, among other great directors, delivered very good proposals and that was valid; Now, feeling the viewer's breath, feeling their presence... That has no comparison! That's why I don't agree with online theater.

Television makes you popular, everyone watches you, I receive the affection of viewers... it's a train! but the theater is my comfort zone.

René, don't you miss home runs when you're a baseball kid?

Hahaha. Always. When I left the EIDE (Sports Initiation School) and when I grew up also when we played games between actors, comedians and musicians, to which you went; I have always had the ball in my soul. Many journalists and narrators even said that our matches filled the stadiums more than those of the National Series.

But I tell you that before EIDE I studied violin at the ENA (National School of Art). Music, the violin, deprives me. Music has helped me discover the tempo of the characters.

No wonder, son of a cat hunts mouse and you are the son of the teacher Pura Ortíz, pianist for years with the National Symphony Orchestra, in addition to having collaborated with the National Lyric Theater and the Symphony Orchestra of Córdova, Spain and working in the staging of the operas L'Boheme, Tosca, El Trovador, Don Pascuale and the zarzuela Cecilia Valdés.

I absorbed all that legacy, but also my time at the ENA was amazing because there we drank from many sources, both classical and folk ballet, contemporary dance, influences from various musical instruments and variants of performing arts. It was exciting.

Because you left it?

Because mine was by hearsay, I didn't read the music; wow, it was bad. I had great teachers and I was a companion of relevant musicians but that is not enough. Furthermore, I had the ball bug inside me: on Sundays I always played on the then Bohemia field, one of the many that has disappeared; as was also played on the land that is now occupied by the FAR parking lot, a lot of ball! Now there is much less, of course.

Then I moved and went to Martí Park, where I learned to swim and international events of various sports were held; It even hosted the handball of the Havana 91 Pan American Games and now... it's grim, it's scary, wrapped in complete abandonment and penury, everything destroyed!

How do you enter the EIDE?

I entered the “José Antonio Echeverría” social circle with Isidoro León, who was a pitcher in the Major Leagues and after playing in the provincial team I was a student of Ihosvany Gallegos, a pitcher in the National Series.

There I entered the EIDE that was in Playa and we trained with Papo Liaño. Tremendous picket: Javier Méndez, Poulot, Zamora...I pitched, played first and the outfield. He had a good arm and fielded from behind.

And that's where the “iron leg” thing came in, right?

Ha ha ha. Yes. I had (have) a difficult, flat foot and I earned that epithet. They were beautiful moments because we escaped and went to the ENA, where we got to see the models and observe the acting classes. One of the teachers was Luis Alberto García Sr. That's where my true vocation was defined: acting! Although my friendship with the baseball players remained and will continue for life.

What feeling overcomes you when talking about your parents?

Pride! I can assure you that there is no child who is more proud of his parents than I am. I am the son of two exponents of Cuban culture, two enormous beings, but if they had been a bricklayer and a seamstress I would have been the best bricklayer and the best couturier in the world.

My parents never allowed me to live off of them. What I achieve I fight for. I bear both of their surnames with great respect, but what I am is not because of them. Even when I went to enter the ISA I tried to get my father to accompany me, but my father gave me a resounding NO. He was not willing to be approved of by him. And I am eternally grateful for this. He has always been there, his advice lives in me.

And what can I tell you about my mother? Admired by talented international and Cuban artists, from Montserrat Caballé to Chucho Valdés through Frank Fernández, teacher of Gonzalito Rubalcava. They haven't given him the National Music Award...things that happen! Their loss. I try to be half of what they have been and are.

My father always told me that to be a good artist you had to be a good person and that is difficult but I try to give the best of myself to friends, acquaintances, my daughter, my mother.

Rene, the current situation in our country marks a separate and conscious paragraph. The signatures in the UNEAC, the position of the Minister of Culture and still maintained, the contempt for those who do not agree like the government, what does a sensitive artist like you think, can something be done?

The situation in our country is incredible, we are experiencing very difficult times. So many young people leaving looking for a future in other horizons. The loss of young people and not so young people is very sad, we witnessed November 27th, July 11th.

Errors, unjustified decisions that have caused this situation, errors and poorly made decisions that have only contributed to the growth of hatred and, worst of all, the justification for that hatred. The only thing I want is for love to return among Cubans, wherever they are.

The Cuban has always been supportive, enough of so much hatred. Cuba needs that love that characterized us so much. I have never met a Cuban, whether in Madrid or in Paris, in Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia or Beijing who does not feel for their homeland.

The Cuban is a being of love; Let's not continue killing that feeling. This has to be a country of inclusion; accept everyone, no matter how they think. José Martí asked for the freedom of ideas, the possibility of respect for the diversity of ideas. There we will be a developed nation.

And I wonder, so much so that we say that we are Martians, that we pursue the thought of the Apostle and do we really do it? I believe that we should not use Martí's thoughts to the extent that they suit us and that is that a simple misplaced comma, a poorly expressed idea can change the meaning of the sentence.

The difference in thinking is what causes the country to be truly free, to grow. Cuba is one and belongs to the Cubans. Cuba belongs to Chacho and Chicha (characters from the video clip thatRenecite will star with actress Nieves Riovalles); What Chacho likes most is for Chicha to keep his hut clean and Chicha does that and he asks for it with love and respect. This is how they go through life weaving dreams; I tell you that they already announced that there will be a second part. Wow, I gave you some news!

I know that you have always sung, you have musicality in your veins; I know you admire Pablito. Where in the deep ocean would you send Ana Hurtado?

The loss at the end of last year of such a tall figure, full of Cuban identity, was a devastating blow. In a very short time, several exponents of our culture left us; In one week we lostAurora Basnuevo, Mario Balmaseda, Rogelio Martínez Furé, Eugenio Hernandez Espinosa, among others, until November 22 thatPaul left.

His concert in Havana was a warning, that's why we all had to give him our love. Everything that happened around their concert was very ugly, to be honest. He knew that his end was near and he came to say goodbye to his people, to these Cubans who love him so much.

We all enjoyed that concert. and he enjoyed it more. He sang about everything, including the Revolution despite being banned from his Foundation, the same one that allowed the culture of Cuban and foreign creators to spread throughout the planet.

There is Camerata Romeu, Narciso Medina's company, many young troubadours as well as Compay Segundo and the traditional trova that made Cuban music transcend beyond our borders.

Pablo Milanés' songs made the humanist process of the Revolution known to the world; So, it is worth asking what happened to that vibrant and spectacular human being that Pablito was to cause that drastic change of opinion? What caused it?

And yet, he continued to sing his hymns, the hymns of our lives; those hymns that moved us so much, that stirred our feelings. You ask me about Ana Hurtado. I don't know who this Ana Hurtado is. I don't know her nor does anyone in Spain know who she is, but I will tell you something:You should wipe your mouth, apologize for talking like that about that great Cuban who continues to make us sing..

And to those who do know her and also enjoyed and continue to enjoy Pablo's music; Those few who know her should have publicly demanded that she apologize to these people for speaking as she did about an older Cuban.

Don't ask me what part of the ocean I would send it to because it would be one more concern for the rich life, the ecosystem that must be cared for in the oceans. Life in those depths would not forgive us!

For issues like these I think that Cuba should continue uniting, continue loving each other. Let us not allow those from there or those from here to separate us. I want love among Cubans even if you think how you want, live wherever you want.

I have many friends who no longer live near my house or stand next to me on stage, but every time I meet them there it is a party, because wherever we see each other there is a party and no one is going to stop that party. never.

That is my thought and I will keep it here, there, anywhere. My friends will always be my brothers; my nephews, who do not live with me, but wherever I see them, I give them the same love. The nostalgia remains and the joy of seeing each other, when we see each other, too.

A single message Julita: love for Cuba, love among Cubans and with that love I will continue to stand on stages. The love for Cuba is my constant fight; the Cuba that I respect, the Cuba that I defend, the Cuba that I love. And that Cuba belongs to all of us despite the wrong feelings, despite the regrettable things that happen, despite the closed thinking. F must be