Romualdo Alonso Pino, known in the world of improvised verse as "El Pino de Cangrejera," passed away on October 11, 2026, in the town of La Salud, in the municipality of Quivicán, Mayabeque province, while participating in a canturía.
The digital platform D'Canturía, dedicated to the décima and improvised Cuban verse, announced the death on the very day of the 11th, and several profiles related to the national verse of the island echoed the sad news this week. “D'Canturía regrets to inform about the sudden passing of Romualdo Alonso Pino, 'El Pino de Cangrejera,'” read the brief note, extending condolences to family and friends, “especially to Mercy Estrada, his partner in art and in life. Rest in peace, poet.”
According to the latest images of the poet, taken by Yelier Corvo Rodríguez, Alonso Pino was improvising alongside the repentista Yasel García in La Salud just a few minutes before his death.
An internet user who commented on the D'Canturía post revealed the cause of death: "It was at a canturía where he was very much applauded, and that's when he had the heart attack... eternal glory, my brother."
Born on September 8, 1947 —according to another publication from D'Canturía that includes his exact dates of life—, Alonso Pino was "one of the most prominent improvisers" in Cuba during his peak.
Her artistic trajectory —as reported by the newspaper El Artemiseño on the 13th— was marked by two major controversial partnerships: first with José Miguel Bello, and later with Helio Vidal, with whom she formed one of the most beloved duos of the Sunday television program Palmas y Cañas, an iconic space for Cuban improvisational poetry that has been broadcast since 1962.
Several followers who remembered him from that show shared their testimonies. One internet user wrote: "I remember the poet Alonso Pino on the Palmas y Cañas programs, alongside my great friend, Helio Vidal, a duo of poets, very professional, and whenever they appeared on the show, there was quality." Another added: "He formed a charming duo with Elio. We worked a lot together on Palmas y Cañas. My deepest condolences to family and friends; especially to his wife and friend: the stellar singer Mercy Estrada."
The National Bureau of ANAP (National Association of Small Farmers) also joined in mourning: "May your family and friends receive the deepest condolences from the National Bureau of ANAP and the Cuban farming community," expressed Juan Enrique López Rodríguez on behalf of that organization.
The researcher and National Literature Award winner Virgilio López Lemus, one of the leading authorities in Latin America on the study of the décima, was another who reacted to the news: "I am very sorry for his passing," he wrote succinctly, with the seriousness that corresponds to the loss of a figure of such stature.
In tribute to the poet, Juan Carlos García Guridi composed an acrostic published by D'Canturía: «Alonso Pino died, / He did so as he wished; / He dreamed of octosyllables, / Never did he forget that... / He fulfilled his destiny / Proudly faithful; / He painted his farewell without a brush, / He hoisted flags of light: / He wanted neither weeping nor a cross / Oxidizing his skin».
The death of Alonso Pino adds to the loss of other figures in the Cuban rural music scene, such as the broadcaster Fernando Guardado, at the end of September. Guardado was the star host of the mentioned program Palmas y Cañas for almost four decades.
The user Raisel Acosta Aquino announced on Facebook that a posthumous tribute to «El Pino de Cangrejera» with a guateque at the Obelisco Décima Cubana in Güira de Melena, with free entry for all poets and poetry lovers: «We will soon announce the date of the Guateque,» he wrote.
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