Fernando Pérez Valdés (born 1944) is a prominent Cuban film director.
His father, who was a postman, took him to see his first movie when he was 6 or 7 years old. It was a western and Pérez recalls vividly the effect all those cowboys and indians had on him. “It’s not like I said to myself, ‘Aha, I’m going to become a movie director’, but the identification had begun. And it would become a vocation.”
Pérez graduated from the University of Havana with a degree in Language and Spanish Literature, and began working in the Cuban film industry in 1971 as an assistant director, before directing his first documentary in 1975.
His feature debut was the drama Clandestinos (1987) but it wasn’t until Madagascar (1994) that he garnered significant international recognition. Pérez later directed La Vida es Silbar (1998) and Suite Habana (2003).
Suite Habana is considered by some critics to be the best Cuban film in decades. Variety hailed it as “A lyrical, meticulously-crafted and unexpectedly melancholy homage to the battered but resilient inhabitants of a battered but resilient city.”
His most recent film called Madrigal tells a story about life in the theater world. His next film was biopic that cover the childhood and early teenage years of Cuban national hero Jose Marti entitled Marti: El ojo del Canario, which premiered in 2010 an earned several awards in the film Festival Circuit.
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The Cuban History, Hollywood.
Arnoldo Varona, Editor.
Willy Chirino, born April 5, 1947 in Consolación del Sur, Pinar del Río, Cuba, is an entertainer and singer in the salsa style.
His father was the town’s State Attorney and his mother was a pharmacist who worked at home. He was the only boy in his family (he had three sisters). His town did not have any crime and was very peaceful; the worst thing that happened was someone trying to steal medicine from their house. He lived a calm life in this town for fourteen years.
Chirino and the Revolution.
After the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, many Cubans fled to the United States. Some thought it was a temporary measure and hoped to return soon afterwards, but when it became apparent that the revolution was going to continue, more Cubans left the island. In 1960 Chirino came to the United States through “Operation Peter Pan”, designed to get Cuban children out of the country due to, among other things, fears that the government would take them from their parents. This US government sponsored program, in conjunction with the Catholic Welfare Bureau, eventually transported approximately 14,000 Cuban children to the United States and placed them in foster homes until their parents could leave the island. Much later, Chirino would record “Nuestro Día Ya Viene Llegando” (“Our Day is Coming”), a song loosely based on his experiences as a refugee which has become an anthem for Cuban exiles everywhere.
Professional career.
Chirino began his artistic career in Miami, releasing his first album in 1974. Since then, he has recorded over 20 albums, several of which have attained platinum and gold status. In 2006, his album “Son del Alma”, won a Grammy for Best Salsa/Merengue Album. As founder of the Willy Chirino Foundation, his philanthropic efforts have been recognized by UNICEF and the Department of State.
He celebrated his 35th anniversary in music with his latest released album “Willy Chirino Live-35th Anniversary” (“Willy Chirino En Vivo-35 Aniversario”), a CD/DVD combo of the concert. This album brought him his first nomination for Best Salsa Album at the 2007 Latin Grammy Awards. Most recently, Chirino and his wife, singer/song writer Lissette Álvarez, released their first album together, Amarraditos (Bound to One Another). The CD includes a potpourri of classic Spanish-language love songs. Chirino’s latest album, “Pa’lante”, was released at spring 2008, after which he launched a world tour. In 2011, when asked of how his recordings of My Beatles Heart, he said that Sony scrutinized every single one of his songs and their versions because they consider the songs by The Beatles as one of their most precious treasures, and wanted to make sure they were being used in a rightful manner.
His Family.
His first marriage was to Olga Maria Rodriguez and had three daughters; Angie, Olga Maria and Jessica. He later married Lissette Álvarez and had three more children- Nicole, Alana, and Gianfranco. He and his wife support the Cuban dissident movement, Yo No Coopero Con La Dictadura (I Don’t Cooperate with the Dictatorship).
Discography.
1974: One Man Alone
1975: Chirino
1976: Chirino 3
1977: ¿Quién Salvó la Ciudad?
1978: Evolución
1979: Come Into My Music
1980: Diferente
1981: La Salsa y Yo
1982: Chirinísimo
1983: Subiendo
1985: 14 Éxitos
1985: Zarabanda
1988: Amándote
1989: Lo Que Está Pa’ Ti
1990: Acuarela del Caribe
1991: Oxígeno
1992: Un Tipo Típico y Sus Éxitos
1992: Mis Primeros Éxitos
1993: South Beach
1994: Oro Salsero: 20 Éxitos
1994: Brillantes
1995: Asere
1996: Antología Tropical
1997: Baila Conmigo
1997: Oro Salsero: 10 Éxitos Vol. 1
1998: Oro Salsero: 10 Éxitos Vol. 2
1998: Cuba Libre
1999: 20th Anniversary
2000: Greatest Hits
2000: Soy
2001: Afro-Disiac
2002: 15 Éxitos
2003: Serie Azul Tropical
2004: Son del Alma
2005: Cubanísimo
2005: 20 Éxitos Originales
2006: En Vivo: 35° Aniversario
2007: Amarraditos
2007: Lo Esencial
2007: Tesoros de Colección
2008: Pa’ Lante
2008: Grandes Éxitos en Vivo
2011: My Beatles Heart
2011: Mis Favoritas
2012: Llegó la Navidad
2013: Soy… I Am: Mis Canciones – My Songs
2014: Serie Platino.
Agencies/Various/Wiki/InternetPhotos/youtube/thecubanhistory.com
The Cuban History, Hollywood.
Arnoldo Varona, Editor.
Pedro Luis Díaz Lanz (November 8, 1926, Havana, Cuba – June 26, 2008) was Chief of the Revolutionary Air Force of Cuba under Fidel Castro, before and after the 1959 Cuban Revolution.
His grandfather fought in the ranks of cuban mambises and his father was a high official of the Cuban constitutional army until 1930.
Se graduó de bachillerato en 1944 y cursó estudios como mecánico de aviación. En 1946, con apenas 20 años, comenzó a pilotear aviones.
In 1957, Pedro Díaz Lanz joined Fidel Castro’s rebel group in Santiago, Cuba. He was employed as a commercial pilot with the airline Aerovías Q. He later acted as head of the Revolutionary Air Force, and during 1958 he smuggled weapons and ammunition from Costa Rica and Florida into Cuba by air.
After the Cuban Revolution on 1 January 1959, he was confirmed as head of the new Revolutionary Air Force as well as Castro’s personal pilot. Within months, he became vocal about his opposition to the influence of communists on the new revolutionary government. On 29 June 1959, Fidel Castro relieved him of his post, and he left immediately by boat to Florida, with his second wife and 3 of his six children, and reportedly with Frank Sturgis, a fellow anti-communist.
Life after Cuba.
On 14 July 1959, Díaz was interviewed by the US Senate Internal Security subcommittee, where he gave out the first account of Fidel’s planned move towards communism.
On 21 October 1959, one of his most notorious actions was flying a twin-engined bomber (variously reported as a B-25 or B-26) over Havana while dropping anti-communist leaflets, along with his brother Marcos Diaz Lanz. Diaz Lanz piloted and Marcos threw the leaflets down from an open bomb hatch. The unsuccessful gunfire from armed forces on the ground caused injuries and deaths, leading to unsubstantiated reports of bombs being dropped from the aircraft.
He was recruited by the CIA, and became a member of Operation 40, a group of CIA operatives who specialized in carrying out secret Anti-Castro assassinations and sabotages.
Díaz committed suicide at the age of 81 in 2008 after years of poverty and depression with a gunshot wound to the chest.
Agencies/Various/Wiki/InternetPhotos/thecubanhistory.com
The Cuban History, Hollywood.
Arnoldo Varona, Editor.
Fernando Pérez Valdés (born 1944) is a prominent Cuban film director.
