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 collections that are included in Anthologies of Cuban Poetry, The House as a Tree, Sed de Belleza Publishing, Santa Clara, 1995, Hallucinations in Ana's Garden, Capiro Publishing, Santa Clara, 1995, The Tree in the Eyes, Reina del Mar Publishers, Cienfuegos, 1998, Cities of the Wind, Calendario Prize 1999. Abril Publishing House, Havana, 2000, Late Suns I See, Abril Publishing House, 2007.

He has also collaborated in various Cuban and foreign publications. He directed the magazine Amnios, which focused on poetry and was promoted by the Ministry of Culture, and he wrote and hosted the radio program "Verso a verso" on the station Radio Metropolitana 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 very 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 and 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 Cuban Deputy Minister of Culture Fernando Rojas and dissolved their demonstration after he agreed to engage in dialogue with 30 representatives of the collectives gathered there.

Despite agreeing to initiate a "dialogue channel" that would include the Minister of Culture, among other officials, on January 27, 2021, a group of young people once again showed up in front of the Ministry of Culture to try to speak with Alpidio about several arbitrary detentions of artists, opponents, and activists that had occurred, including the Cuban rapper and activist Denis Solís, among others.

Upon arriving at the facilities, the young people encountered a strong police cordon outside. Alpidio Alonso and other officials from the agency 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 assaulted one of the young people filming: Mauricio Mendoza, a collaborator for Diario de Cuba.

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