Pedro Álvarez Tabío Longa

Historian and editor. National History Prize in 2008 for possessing a broad and distinguished trajectory in the field of historical science. He received the National Publishing Prize 2007. He wrote more than 20 books about the revolutionary process, its protagonists and the struggles that led to the victory of January 1, 1959. He was considered the memory of the Cuban Revolution. Editor of Fidel Castro and a close collaborator.

He was born in La Habana, was the son of the eminent Cuban jurist Fernando Álvarez-Tabío and sculptor Rita Longa.

He earned degrees in Administrative Law and Diplomatic Law. Between 1961 and 1968 he was an official at the Ministry of Foreign Relations and the Foreign Service at Cuba's Permanent Mission to the United Nations, headquartered in Nueva York. He held the position of Chargé d'Affaires of that Mission on two occasions.

He developed extensive work in the rescue and promotion of the historical memory of the Revolution, which he materialized in rigorous texts of notable sociocultural impact.

He was founder of the National Union of Historians of Cuba (UNHIC), of which he was vice president and member of its national executive; also a member of the National Editorial Board, attached to the Presidency of the Cuban Institute of the Book; of the Cuban Section of the UNESCO Memory of the World Committee; full member of the Steering Commission of the Sierra Maestra Grand National Park and member of the Advisory Board of the Social Sciences Publishing House.

Associate Senior Professor of the Faculty of Philosophy and History of the University of La Habana and of the Superior Institute of International Relations.

He was designated as alternate representative of Cuba's delegations to the 18th and 19th sessions of the General Assembly of the United Nations, and represented Cuba at other international conferences and events, including at the First Conference on Trade and Development, where he served as Secretary of the Cuban Delegation presided by Commander Ernesto Che Guevara.

In January 1969 he entered the Cuban Institute of the Book, first as Editor in the Social Sciences publishing house and a few months later as Head of the Political Editorial Department of that same Publishing House. Beginning in July 1972 he also held the responsibility of Head of the Special Editorial Department of that Publishing House, which began to operate in the Palace of the Revolution providing services to what was then the Presidency of the Republic, under the direct supervision of compañera Celia Sánchez.

In January 1977 he formally joined the staff of the Council of State, when the aforementioned Special Editorial Department became the Publications Section of that body, of which he remained as Head. In 1981 this Section became an autonomous department of the central body, subordinated directly to the Secretariat of the Council of State, with the name of Publications Office, of which he was appointed Director.

He was also appointed Director of the Office of Historical Affairs of the Council of State itself in 1994. In 1999, both departments were integrated into what were called the History Offices of the Council of State, an independently budgeted unit of which he was appointed Director. A position he held until his death.

He was President of the Scientific Board of the History Offices of the Council of State since the creation of this body, and member of the Scientific Board of the Institute of History of Cuba.

He created the museological scripts and museographic installations of more than 20 local and site museums in the Sierra Maestra, among them those of:
Santo Domingo
Las Mercedes
El Jigüe
La Comandancia de La Plata
La Plata Abajo
Pozo Azul and La Otilia
Celia Sánchez Manduley Birth House Museum
Central Museum of the First Front

He was responsible for heritage care of the Historical Area of Birán, of La Comandancia de La Plata, the Comandancia de las Vegas de Jibacoa and other sites of special significance. As a historian and editor, he protected and rescued heritage values in Sierra Maestra, where he identified and marked more than 300 historical sites. He was responsible for attention to the Historical Area of Birán, where the Castro brothers were born.

He devoted more than thirty years to historical research of the war of national liberation (1956-1958), since he received from the hands of compañera Celia Sánchez Manduley in January 1977 the task of initiating and directing research on the activities of the First Rebel Front in the Sierra Maestra.

As an editor, he accumulated almost 40 years of experience, during which time, as a result of his editorial management, more than 800 titles were published, in the majority of which he intervened directly in various aspects of editorial work and was responsible for the ideological, political and scientific content of those titles. Throughout his years of directing editorial work, he had the responsibility of directing the activities of a considerable number of editors, writers, proofreaders, designers and producers.

He was responsible for directing and developing the editorial policy of those editorial departments and for elaborating and executing their thematic and title plans. He systematically maintained the necessary relationships with authors, prologue writers and compilers.

He performed, on countless occasions, the evaluation of books, reading reports and all other activities included in the scope of Editor functions and provided technical editorial advice on numerous occasions.

Among the titles for which he was responsible as editor, the following special books stand out:
El futuro es el internacionalismo
La educación en revolución.
Moncada
Granma
En estrecha y eterna amistad.

One of his latest contributions in this field were the Cuban editions of the book Cien horas con Fidel, the extensive and indispensable interview of the Commander in Chief with French intellectual of Spanish origin Ignacio Ramonet. He is considered one of the most experienced and accomplished Cuban intellectuals in this specialty.

Documentaries
He directed video documentaries, and is the author, among others, of:
Los pasos de la guerra
La Plata, Celia leyenda y presencia
Hombre y revolución en la montaña
Cuando pienso en el Che

He produced more than 20 documentary reports on trips abroad and other activities of the Commander in Chief, carried out in collaboration with filmmaker Roberto Chile. He was a jury member for numerous national and international competitions, and served as tutor or consultant for various degree works. He fulfilled numerous official missions abroad, and participated in more than twenty trips of the Commander in Chief abroad as a member of support teams.

Awards, distinctions and decorations
Distinction for National Culture,
Distinction of the Machete of Máximo Gómez conferred by the FAR *
The Raúl Gómez García, Enrique Hart and Labor Achievement Medals.
Caracol Prize for Cinema, Radio and Television for the documentary Celia, leyenda y presencia.
Special Prize from ANAP for the documentary Hombre y revolución en la montaña.
National Publishing Prize 2007
National History Prize
For his active participation in the conservation, investigation and dissemination of the historical facts of the Sierra Maestra, issued by the authorities of the province of Granma, in 2006 he was declared an adopted son of that province.

He died in La Habana on June 13, 2009, at the age of 67. He is considered the memory of the Cuban revolution. Editor of Fidel Castro and a close collaborator, accompanying the Cuban leader in his international trips and was his right hand in interviews and encounters with intellectuals and foreign personalities, providing precise data on historical events.