The Cuban announcer and presenter Salvador Blanco, known for hosting the popular television program Para Bailar in Cuba during the 1970s and 1980s, was arrested on April 4 in Miami-Dade County, Florida, accused of domestic violence.
Blanco, whose full name is Salvador Águila Blanco, is 72 years old and currently resides in Hialeah, a city with a significant presence of the Cuban diaspora.
The news was shared by influencer Alexander Otaola, who expressed his sorrow over the event and described the presenter as "a cool guy," "a good guy," "a funny old man".
So far, no further details of the case have emerged.
Blanco, originally from Caibarién, built a renowned career in Cuban television.
His debut took place in 1978 with the show Para Bailar, a program featuring music, humor, and audience participation that gained great popularity on the island, where he created memorable characters like the beloved "Pedro Pérez."
In 1981, he/she participated in the film Guardafronteras, directed by Octavio Cortázar, alongside notable figures such as Albertico Pujol and Tito Junco.
However, his career suffered an abrupt break in the early 1980s when he was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison. In a 2014 interview, he explained that he was prosecuted for attempting to leave the country illegally.
Regarding that period, the broadcaster asserted that he did not lose the support of the audience: "Neither while in prison, nor when I went out on the street. They still remembered me."
Blanco left Cuba in 1985 and lived for five years in France, where he learned the language and worked at Radio Martí. In 1990, he moved to the United States, where he continued his career in the media, including his time at TV Martí, where he hosted the humor show Tan famoso como tú and served as a reporter on Middle Eastern issues, which led him to study Hebrew and Arabic.
The arrest also reignites an old controversy: Blanco's detention in Cuba has long fueled rumors that his colleague and fellow host of Para Bailar, Carlos Otero, was the one who reported him to the Cuban authorities.
In August 2019, Otero publicly denied that account on his show TN3 on the channel América TeVé. "That is completely false. Salvador and I had a great working relationship. an injustice was done to him."
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