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Close associates of the prestigious Cuban musician and educator José Antonio Méndez Valencia, director of the Matanzas Chamber Choir, reported his disappearance this Tuesday in that city and requested assistance to locate him.
The teacher Ivette Burgois Lozano, director of the Matanzas Youth Choir, issued a warning on social media and specified that Méndez Valencia was wearing a red sweater and blue jeans when he was last seen.
“Please, this is José Antonio Méndez, the director of the Matanzas Choir. He is missing!” wrote Burgois Lozano in a Facebook post, which included photos of the choral director.
Additionally, he asked anyone who sees him to hold him and call the phone numbers of Lilian Padrón (+53 5 9956550) and Vanessa Herrera (+53 5 2443208).
Several individuals joined the request, including visual artist Adrián Socorro Suárez, who warned that "the master has orientation problems and may easily get lost or fail to recognize an environment, no matter how familiar it may be."
Artists, students, friends, and members of the community have expressed great concern over the disappearance of Méndez Valencia, and have shared alerts on social media to help locate him as soon as possible.
Méndez Valencia, 74 years old, is considered one of the most prominent choral directors in Cuba. He graduated in choral conducting from the National School of Art in Havana in 1980 and obtained a doctorate in Music from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Weimar, Germany, in 1990.
He has served as a choral conducting professor at the Conservatory of Music in Matanzas and the Higher Institute of Art in Havana. Since 1986, he has been directing the Chamber Choir of Matanzas, the Choir of the Evangelical Theological Seminary of Matanzas, and the Children's Choir of the city of Matanzas, as noted in the online encyclopedia Ecured.
He was awarded the José White Prize 2011 in Matanzas. The government of the city of Santa Clara granted him the title of Distinguished Guest of the City in 2016, the Distinction for the 330th anniversary of the founding of Santa Clara in 2019, and the Key to the City of Santa Clara in 2023.
Case update
People close to the Cuban musician reported that he has been found and expressed gratitude for the community's assistance in locating him.
Thanks to the citizen mobilization, missing persons in Cuba have been found, including the elderly or those suffering from mental illnesses.
In the absence of official state channels to disseminate cases, families turn to digital platforms to seek help and organize community searches.
However, Cuban authorities continue to leave unresolved cases such as that of the girl Maydeleisis Rosales Rodríguez, who disappeared more than four years ago in Centro Habana; Karildi Caridad Marín, 25 years old, last seen on December 14, 2023, when she was heading to the Cerro municipality; and Doraiky Águila Vázquez, 48 years old, who disappeared on March 15 in Havana.
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