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The Cuban writer and playwright Pedro Juan de la Portilla Cabrera passed away last Sunday in Mérida, Yucatán, at the age of 67, after a battle with cancer, according to journalist Johnny Oliver Quintal on his various platforms.
Born on June 19, 1958 in Pinar del Río, De la Portilla was a central figure in the Cuban community in Mexico and one of the most active cultural promoters of the diaspora in the Yucatán Peninsula.
His family bid him farewell with a notice that described him as "a loving, brave, cheerful, and generous man, a passionate artist, and a vehement defender of the freedom of his homeland."
Bachelor in Performing Arts with a specialization in Theater Studies from the Instituto Superior de Arte de La Habana, De la Portilla chaired the Council of Performing Arts in Pinar del Río and directed the Teatro Milanés, one of the most important historical venues in that province, built in the 19th century and declared a National Monument.
Before settling permanently in Mérida, he held positions in the Ministry of Culture in Havana, where he developed part of his institutional career.
In Mexico, he became the first president of the Association of Cuban Residents in Mexico José Martí, Yucatán delegation, a position he held for over 15 years, and he was a professor at the Leopoldo Peniche Vallado School of Writers in Mérida. In that same cultural space, he presented his poetry book in that same venue, leaving an indelible mark on the literary life of Yucatán.
In the Yucatecan capital, he was affectionately known as "el cubateco." The indelible mark of el cubateco on culture is the title with which the local press summed up his legacy following the news of his passing.
His passing adds to a painful list of losses for the Cuban intellectual community in exile in Mexico. In recent years, another Cuban intellectual based in Mérida, the poet and curator Osvaldo Sánchez Crespo also died, a figure equally cherished in the region's cultural circles.
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