Albor Ruiz Salazar

Born in Cuba, he lived in New York since 1980 and died at Homestead Hospital in Florida, due to severe pneumonia.

He left Cuba at just 20 years old, on November 20, 1961. He studied Political Science and Philosophy in Florida. He was a columnist at the Daily News and El Diario La Prensa in New York, writing about topics related to the Latino community in the United States while he lived in that city, and more recently at AL DÍA News Media.

He is a member of the Hall of Fame of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists in the U.S.

His most prolific work was in defense of the land that saw his birth and its people. Albor Ruiz, who had turned 80 on November 27, had, according to the Progreso Semanal editorial, "a life rich with many adventures and deep commitments" to the Homeland.

Former editor and columnist of the New York Daily News and El Diario, whether writing for English or Spanish-language media, his journalistic mission was to provide a voice to those whose stories often go unnoticed by conventional media, a mission he enthusiastically fulfilled at Al Día News.

He played a prominent role in organizing the movement of young Cubans who gathered around Areito.

He was one of those who worked hard from the United States to achieve the 1978 Dialogue, a space that marked the beginning of an irreversible process of reconciliation between Cuba and its emigration. On this matter, Albor himself pointed out "Returning to Cuba was lifting an enormous, gigantic weight off me that had been crushing me all the time. It was a brutal change. Especially when, without realizing it, the kind of propaganda they make in the United States about Cuba gets to you, even though you know it's a lie and you disagree. But when I arrived and saw that, despite the tremendous problems, people went to the movies, ate ice cream, had parties on the streets with children, old people, Chinese people, Black people, etc. For me it was tremendous relief, I don't quite know how to explain it. I felt that those were my people".

Former Director of Region II of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and member of its National Board, in 2003 I was included in the Hall of Fame of the Association.

"Albor Ruiz, after a long process of learning and healing as an emigrant, was among the people who worked hard from the United States to achieve that first dialogue, a space that marked the official beginning of a new relationship with Cuban emigration", recalled the Progreso Semanal website in an article last year.

"I have the great satisfaction, and I say it without holding anything back, that our group initiated the process that made everything else possible. That's not talked about much. Perhaps the correct credit hasn't been given to that stage, and I don't think it's that important anyway. That's not the issue. I do remember the first time we went to Cuba's diplomatic headquarters and they looked at us as if we were crazy. But we kept opening up space and earning a bit of trust, showing them that what we were saying was real, and that we were willing not only to talk, but to act accordingly", Albor told journalist Rachel D. Rojas in 2016, in an interview cited by that publication.

"Returning to Cuba was lifting an enormous, gigantic weight off me that had been crushing me all the time. It was a brutal change. Especially when, without realizing it, the kind of propaganda they make in the United States about Cuba gets to you, even though you know it's a lie and you disagree. But when I arrived and saw that, despite the tremendous problems, people went to the movies, ate ice cream, had parties on the streets with children, old people, Chinese people, Black people, etc. For me it was tremendous relief, I don't quite know how to explain it. I felt that those were my people", Ruiz himself narrated in statements also cited by Progreso Semanal.

According to messages and recollections from friends and colleagues following his death, gathered at Radio Miami TV, in his will Ruiz asked that his ashes be buried in Cuba. This wish is consistent with the verses of his well-known poem "In Case I Die Tomorrow", included in his book of the same name, in which he wrote:

"Return to the earth, Cuban soil
A foreigner I am and it calls to me
Let all know that Cuba claims me
In case I die tomorrow".