havana/The Cuban journalist, Pedro de la Hoz, died this Wednesday in Havana on the age of 71 affected by most cancers. The cultural critic leaves a path of articles, books and acts of censorship that got here from his positions, intently linked to the ruling get together.
De la Hoz was born in Cienfuegos in 1953, and graduated in journalism from the College of Havana in 1976 and was one of many founders of the newspaper. September 5, the place he was primarily concerned in financial affairs. Later he labored for the newspaper guard, of Villa Clara, the place he started writing about cultural points.
In 1988, when the winds of the quantity The Soviet Union shook the editorial workplaces on the island, joined the newspaper workforce Granny by journalist Marta Rojas. Within the official organ of the Communist Occasion he joined the Tradition division and after the dying of his major individual, Rolando Pérez Betancourt, he went on to steer that division.
At full pace, De La Hoz established himself as a cultural commissioner who raised or destroyed reputations and jobs.
His texts from these years, particularly criticism of movies, music reveals and different creative scenes, attracted an viewers that noticed in his articles extra questioning and bolder journalistic propositions. Nonetheless, it didn’t final as the autumn of the Soviet Union and the ideological radicalization skilled by the official media in Cuba.
At full pace, De La Hoz established himself as a cultural commissioner who raised or destroyed reputations and jobs. From his pen got here every kind of assaults in opposition to impartial tasks, direct accusations in opposition to the promoters of initiatives removed from the official umbrella and any creative product that didn’t match into his slim canons of what he meant to be “affluent.” In his surroundings he was referred to as “Peter of the Hammer and Sickle”, due to his distinctive scenario.
From creative criticism he grew to become concerned in political indifference, a style which he had the higher hand and which he took with no consideration. His articles regarded extra like sniper pictures hiding behind energy than these evaluations, which introduced a smile to his face and which he had revealed for greater than three many years.
De La Hoz additionally developed round a big community of customers made up of artists who wished to be talked about in a few of his articles. When he arrived at theaters, cultural facilities or galleries, he was honored by those that hoped to look, with a reputation and an image, in considered one of his writings.
His most up-to-date and well-known use of the tagline was his involvement within the panel that attacked the documentary ‘La Habana de Fito’, by director Juan Pin Vilar.
Amongst his major enemies in recent times have been the brand new applied sciences that allowed Cubans, after many years of state monopoly on tv, to start out selecting the audio-visual content material they devour. One other of his strengths was the tagline, a lapidary addition he made earlier than introducing a cultural product as a result of it was not on the similar time ideologically.
His most up-to-date and most well-known use of the tagline was his involvement within the attacking panel in opposition to the documentary Havana Fito, by director Juan Pin Vilar, when it was proven on Cuban tv. Earlier than the movie, which was broadcast in that medium in a model not licensed by the writer, the assaults launched by De La Hoz and the remainder of the friends in opposition to the work and its director with out proper of reply.
With the dying of Pedro de la Hoz, a vital place has been left empty within the official press in Cuba: the writer with a simple verb, an agile pen and an extended expertise in cultural issues who, furthermore, is prepared to call lend himself to being the Torquemada of artists and creators.
