Alpidio Alonso Grau, born in Yaguajay on November 5, 1963, is a Cuban poet and editor who graduated from the Central University of Las Villas with a degree in automatic control engineering. 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 Award 1999, Abril Publishing House, Havana, 2000, Late Suns That I See, Abril Publishing House, 2007.
He has also collaborated on various Cuban and foreign publications. He directed the poetry magazine Amnios, promoted by the Ministry of Culture, and wrote and hosted the radio program "Verso a verso" on Radio Metropolitana in Havana.
As Minister of Culture, Alpidio is one of the most rejected figures by Cuban society due to the repression carried out by his ministry against Cuban intellectuals, particularly against members of the San Isidro Movement, and the very violence with which Alpidio reacted following 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 were criticizing the repression of the San Isidro Movement, as well as the lack of public freedoms on the island, marched in a 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 engage in dialogue with 30 representatives of the groups gathered there.
Despite an agreement 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 gathered outside the Ministry of Culture to try to speak with Alpidio about various arbitrary detentions of artists, opposition members, 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 organization violently attacked the young people. A live broadcast from the independent magazine Periodismo de Barrio displayed the violence of several officials, including the minister himself, who assaulted one of the young people filming: Mauricio Mendoza, a contributor to Diario de Cuba.
Since that event, many national and international voices have come together to call for the resignation of the Minister of Culture.
