The professor and independent Cuban journalist Reinaldo Emilio Cosano Alén passed away on September 1st at the age of 83, after suffering respiratory complications that worsened since midday that day.
His death occurred around eight at night in Guanabo, a municipality in Habana del Este, where he lived bedridden and depended on the solidarity of activists to meet his most basic needs, reported CubaNet.
Born in Havana in May 1943, Cosano graduated in Philology from the University of Havana and dedicated nearly two decades to teaching Spanish and Literature at the Amador López Mosquera Basic Secondary School in Guanabo. His teaching career ended abruptly in 1991 when the Ministry of Education expelled him from the system for lack of "political suitability" after being reported for a letter in which he outlined the problems with education in Cuba.
The Academic Freedom Observatory documented its case and warned that it was already being monitored by State Security due to its connections to the human rights movement. "The incident served as justification for his expulsion, although he was already being watched by State Security for his ties to the human rights movement," stated that organization.
Cosano appealed the sanction, but remained steadfast. As a result, he lost his right to retirement despite his twenty years of continuous teaching.
Far from abandoning the struggle, his expulsion propelled him fully into dissent and independent journalism in Cuba. He was a member of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights, participated in the Cuban Democratic Coalition, and served as vice-organizer of the Cuban Council, a coalition of about 135 unofficial organizations that the regime brutally repressed in February 1996. Cosano was detained during that wave of repression, although he was released without charges two days later.
He directed the independent press agency Sindical Press and collaborated for more than a decade with CubaNet and Martí Noticias. The harassment from the regime followed him for years: in 2014, he was detained for several hours to prevent him from attending an independent journalism awards ceremony of which he was part of the jury.
Despite all the pressures, Cosano never opted for exile and remained in Cuba until the end. In October 2025, when he was 82 years old, the activist Yenier Toledano Torres launched a urgent aid campaign for the journalist, requesting donations of sheets and disposable diapers for someone who had dedicated his life to freedom. Former political prisoner José Batista Falcón also joined the call.
In his final weeks, during a visit from Toledano, Cosano raised a hand from his bed to form the "L" for liberty with his fingers. The activist could not hold back his tears at that gesture.
His death adds to that of other figures of independent Cuban journalism who passed away in 2026: Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez, a hero of the Black Spring of 2003, died in exile in the United States on May 30, and Víctor Manuel Domínguez passed away in Havana on July 10 at the age of 68.
"It deeply saddens me to see how our brother ends up completely forgotten," Toledano expressed to ClickCuba after his last visit to the journalist.
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