Enrique de la Osa Perdomo

Cuban journalist, poet, politician, and professor. He developed investigative and revolutionary journalism. He is considered one of the greats of journalism on the Island during the twentieth century.

He was born in the town of Alquízar, province of La Habana, on February 22, 1909. He completed his primary education in his native town and his secondary education in the city of La Habana. He taught at La Salle, Candler College, and Instituto Número 1 de La Habana. In 1935 he was a professor of History at the Universidad Popular José Martí, created by Julio Antonio Mella, and in 1960, at the Escuela Profesional de Periodismo Manuel Márquez Sterling.

Enrique de la Osa is catalogued as one of the great Cuban journalists of the twentieth century; above all, for his investigative journalism work in the "en Cuba" section of Bohemia magazine. He published his first journalistic work at age 17 in the magazine El Estudiante, titled "Una semblanza de Trostky".

In his first published text, he already showed his political affiliation, which would mark his entire professional trajectory. His journalism can be considered revolutionary, both from a formal point of view and from the ideology he defended. De la Osa knew how to recognize the importance of disseminating partisan precepts, as he devised and implemented a press organ for each political initiative.

In 1938 he was the technical director of the newspaper Patria, the organ of the Partido Revolucionario Cubano (Auténtico). Two years later, in 1940, he won a journalism prize for the centennial of the Archivo Nacional de Cuba.

His commitment to justice led him to create the workers' section of the newspaper Unión Nacionalista. He worked at the weekly Futuro, which had a relationship with the magazine Joven Cuba, created by Antonio Guiteras. During that period, he served as editor of the international section of the magazine Grafos and worked at the newspaper Oriente, from Santiago de Cuba.

His perspective on Cuban reality and his journalistic talents allowed him to leave important chronicles of the era, essential for the study of the history of the moment; especially, of the Revolution of the 30s and the struggle against the government of Gerardo Machado.

Furthermore, he was style editor of El Mundo and a contributor to other Cuban and foreign publications such as América Libre, Orto, Aurora, La Prensa, Luz, Amauta (Perú), and Claridad (Argentina).

In 1943, together with Carlos Lechuga, he created the "en Cuba" section of Bohemia magazine, which would give him prominence in the pages of Cuban journalism. This investigative journalism section set standards in the way current affairs were reported at that time, greatly influenced by the norms of the American school's informative style, characterized by almost no use of adjectives. The "en Cuba" section served as a platform to denounce the corruption of the governments of Ramón Grau San Martín, Carlos Prío Socarrás, and Fulgencio Batista. Likewise, it offered the most genuine blend of literature and investigative journalism. It collaborated, under pseudonyms, with prominent writers of the era. Political and social information reached an expressive height and analytical depth never before known. This section was oriented formally and conceptually by De la Osa. The application of literary techniques in the treatment of news made it a voice of innovative vanguard, and the use of lowercase letters in the name of the section reveals his vanguardist vocation.

From the struggle in clandestinity, in the 1950s, he directed two issues of the magazine Alma Mater, published by the Federación Estudiantil Universitaria (FEU), in those times of political conflicts and insurrections. De la Osa conducted the last interview offered by Antonio Guiteras and exalted the work of the first Cuban proletarian poet: Regino Pedroso.

After the triumph of the 1959 Revolution, Enrique de la Osa directed Bohemia from 1960 to 1971, one of the oldest magazines in Latin America, and the newspaper Revolución from 1963 to 1965.

He demonstrated having broad knowledge of journalistic genres, as throughout his career he successfully cultivated the chronicle, the reportage, the news brief, and the interview. He addressed a wide range of topics, ranging from the historical, political, and artistic. He used the nickname Enrique Delahoza.

For his lifetime work, he received in 1992 the Premio Nacional de Periodismo José Martí, awarded by the Unión de Periodistas de Cuba.

In addition to being a journalist, he began as a poet in the Cuban vanguardist movement, and his first poems appeared in 1927 in the Literary Supplement of Diario de la Marina, a space reactivated by José Antonio Fernández de Castro. For this reason, he is considered among the initiators of this artistic movement on the Island. In his lyrical creations, he incorporated the social theme, based on the formal and aesthetic experimentation of the vanguard.

The magazine ATUEI, founded by De la Osa in 1927 and co-edited with Francisco Masiques, is one of the exponents of vanguard magazines on the Island, but with political belligerence. From its title, its transgressive spirit can be appreciated, for example, in the use of capital letters and design.

ATUEI defended the ideology of the Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana (APRA) and intended to be the organ of the Sindicato de Trabajadores Intelectuales y Artistas de Cuba, but the creation of this union failed. Only six issues were published.

His journalistic activity was accompanied by his revolutionary action. From youth, De la Osa linked himself to leftist movements on the Island and met and worked alongside personalities such as Rubén Martínez Villena, Antonio Guiteras, Raúl Roa, and Julio Antonio Mella. He was included in the so-called communist trial of 1927. During the dictatorship of Gerardo Machado, he participated in demonstrations against that government. In August 1928 he was detained and prosecuted for writing and publishing Dictador sí, dictador, in which he accused the president. The charges against him were for defamation of Machado.

The rest of that year he spent in exile, first in New York, where he worked various jobs, and later in Mexico. In the United States he joined the Asociación de Nuevos Emigrados Revolucionarios Cubanos (ANERC). Later he went to Mexico and there he wrote for Cuba Libre, a publication created by Mella. Along with Eduardo Chibás, he founded the Unión Cívica de Exiliados Cubanos and directed the newspaper Libertad.

In 1930 he returned clandestinely to Cuba to participate with the Directorio Estudiantil Revolucionario (DEU) in revolutionary actions. The following year, he was captured by police and suffered imprisonment in the Castillo del Príncipe and in the Presidio Modelo de Nueva Gerona, in the present-day Isla de la Juventud. Some time later he joined, along with Julio Antonio Mella, the organization Defensa Obrera Internacional. He worked closely with Antonio Guiteras, and in 1934 served as his personal delegate in Oriente. De la Osa participated in the general strike of March 1935. That same year, he joined the Partido Aprista Cubano and headed its press organ, the weekly Futuro.

In 1952 he founded the insurrectional organization Acción Libertadora, which operated in clandestinity. For this, he conceived and led the production of the tabloid Choque, the organ of Acción Libertadora. Furthermore, he served as national chief of propaganda.

As the government of Fulgencio Batista advanced, following the coup d'état of March 10, 1952, with Acción Libertadora disintegrated, he joined the forces of the Movimiento Revolucionario 26 de Julio and the Movimiento de Resistencia Cívica. Likewise, he cooperated with the Directorio Revolucionario in political and agitation activities. In July 1953, he was detained for exalting in a journalistic work those who assaulted the Moncada barracks.

From the Sierra Maestra, Fidel Castro sent him a message in 1957 in which he said he read the "en Cuba" section with true eagerness and thanked him for his dissemination work during such critical days as those the nation was experiencing.

He died in La Habana on June 14, 1997.

Active Bibliography

Crónica del año 33, Ed. de Ciencias Sociales, La Habana, 1989.

«El más leído de Cuba», Bohemia: 18-21, La Habana, November 1998.

En Cuba. Primer Tiempo. 1947-1948, Ed. de Ciencias Sociales, La Habana, 2004.

En Cuba. Segundo Tiempo. 1948-1852, Ed. de Ciencias Sociales, La Habana, 2006.

En Cuba. Tercer Tiempo. 1952-1954, Ed. de Ciencias Sociales, La Habana, 2007.

Passive Bibliography

ANÓNIMO: «Nota sobre el fallecimiento de Enrique de la Osa a la edad de 87 años», Granma: 1, La Habana, June 15, 1996.

BÁEZ, LUIS: «Entrevista a Enrique de la Osa», Granma: 4-5, La Habana, June 15, 1996.

COLECTIVO DE AUTORES: Diccionario de la Literatura Cubana, Instituto de Literatura y Lingüística, Ed. Letras Cubanas, La Habana, 1984.

COLECTIVO DE AUTORES: Historia de la Literatura Cubana. La literatura cubana entre 1899 y 1958. La República, Instituto de Literatura y Lingüística, Ed. Letras Cubanas, La Habana, 2006.

SEXTO, LUIS: «Réquiem por Enrique de la Osa», Bohemia, 88, La Habana, 1996.

TOLEDO, PEDRO DE [pseudonym of José Antonio Fernández de Castro]: «Delahoza», Diario de la Marina, La Habana, April 8, 1928.