The veteran journalist from Holguín, Alfredo Carralero Hernández, passed away this Wednesday in Havana due to a liver condition that had him hospitalized at the Hermanos Ameijeiras Clinical Surgical Hospital.
The news was confirmed by the Cuban News Agency (ACN), an institution to which he dedicated the majority of his professional life and which distinguished him in 2019 with the Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest recognition that the medium grants to its journalists.
Born in Antillita, a rural neighborhood in the municipality of Antilla, "El Carra," as he was affectionately called by family, friends, and colleagues, discovered his calling at the age of 12 or 13 when he observed his father carefully reading newspapers and magazines.
Although he graduated as an electrician from the Holguín Technological Institute, he never practiced that profession: in 1969, he began his career as a correspondent for the newspaper Juventud Rebelde in the former region of Banes and Antilla, after completing a training course in Havana.
Throughout his career, he collaborated with the newspaper Sierra Maestra in Santiago de Cuba; the weekly Antorcha from Banes; and the weekly ¡Ahora! from Holguín, of which he was the director, all of which are media outlets under the control of the Communist Party of Cuba.
At the forefront of ¡Ahora!, he founded the magazines Ámbito—dedicated to cultural events—and Serranía—a reflection of life in the mountains—and promoted the informational spaces Agente PNR and Ante el tribunal.
His connection with ACN lasted for approximately 37 years, during which he directed the agency's correspondences in Sancti Spíritus —of which he was a founder—, Ciego de Ávila, and Holguín, the latter from 2002 until his retirement.
He received several accolades, including the National Vanguard category in 1998, the Holguín Shield awarded by the provincial government at the suggestion of the Union of Journalists of Cuba, the Abraham Portuondo Award for lifetime achievement —received in March 2023— and the Commemorative Coin for the 60th anniversary of UPEC, in July of the same year.
His passing adds to the list of other official Cuban journalists who have died in 2026, such as Héctor Paz Alomar, from the newspaper Invasor, in Ciego de Ávila; Lázaro José Chiang Macate, a veteran reporter from Radio Reloj, and Santiago Ramírez Frías, from the radio station in Cárdenas.
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