Alpidio Alonso

Alpidio Alonso Grau, born in Yaguajay on November 5, 1963, is a Cuban poet and editor graduated from the Central University of Las Villas as an engineer in automatic control. Since July 20, 2018, he has served as the Minister of Culture of Cuba.

He has published several poetry books that are collected in Anthologies of Cuban Poetry, The House as a Tree, Editorial Sed de Belleza, Santa Clara, 1995, Hallucinations in Ana's Garden, Editorial Capiro, Santa Clara, 1995, The Tree in the Eyes, Editorial Reina del Mar Editors, Cienfuegos, 1998, Cities of the Wind, Calendario Prize 1999. Abril Publishing House, Havana, 2000, Late Suns I Look At, Abril Publishing House, 2007.

He has also collaborated on various Cuban and foreign publications. He directed the Amnios magazine of poetry, promoted by the Ministry of Culture, and wrote and hosted the radio program "Verse by Verse" on Radio Metropolitana station in Havana.

As Minister of Culture, Alpidio is one of the most rejected figures by Cuban society due to the repression that his ministry carries out against Cuban intellectuals, especially against members of the San Isidro Movement, and due to the violence with which Alpidio reacted after the events of January 27, 2021 when a group of young people protested in front of his ministry.

On November 27, 2020, a group of young representatives of Cuban artists who criticized the repression of the San Isidro Movement as well as the lack of public freedoms on the island marched in peaceful protest to the Ministry of Culture. After more than 12 hours of public protest, they reached an agreement with the Cuban Deputy Minister of Culture, Fernando Rojas, and dissolved their demonstration after he agreed to dialogue with 30 representatives of the collectives gathered there.

Despite an agreement to start a "dialogue channel" that would include the Minister of Culture, among other officials, on January 27, 2021, a group of young people appeared once again in front of the Ministry of Culture to try to speak with Alpidio about several arbitrary arrests of artists, opposition members, and activists that had occurred, (Cuban rapper and activist Denis Solís, among others).

Upon arriving at the facilities, the young people found a strong police cordon outside. Alpidio Alonso, and other officials of the organization, violently attacked the young people. A live broadcast from the independent magazine Periodismo de Barrio showed the violence of several officials, including the minister himself who attacked one of the young men filming: Mauricio Mendoza, a collaborator of Diario de Cuba.

Since that event, many national and international voices have come together to demand the resignation of the Minister of Culture.