René Lufríu Alonso

Taki-Mori

Died: March 5, 1943

Teacher and assiduous contributor to several of the newspapers of his time.

Born in 1889, Calabazar, La Habana. He completed his secondary education with considerable irregularity at institutes in La Habana, Pinar del Río, and Camagüey. He left his studies in Philosophy and Letters incomplete.

He was secretary to Alfredo Zayas. For several years he taught at private schools while collaborating in national periodicals such as:
La opinión, 1917
Nuestro siglo, 1921
Cuba y América Smart, 1922
Cuba Ilustrada
Heraldo de Cuba
La lucha
La noche
Diario de la Marina
El Fígaro

He was editor-in-chief of El Fígaro in 1921 and subdirector in 1925. He directed the Habana school, 1921 – 1931. Awarded for his pedagogical quality, until it was closed under Machado's dictatorship and he himself was imprisoned.

Following Machado's fall, he held a diplomatic position in the Dominican Republic.

He was a member of the Academy of the History of Cuba since 1923, and became its secretary from 1929 onwards. Upon his return to Cuba in 1933, he founded the Centrist Party, which failed electorally in 1936; that same year he took charge of the diplomatic archives section of the library and cultural relations of the State Department.

He also belonged to the Ateneo de La Habana and various foreign institutions. He participated in various national congresses and gave numerous lectures.

He used the pseudonym Taki-Mori.

Active Bibliography
He compiled and wrote a prologue for works by Manuel Márquez Sterling in Doctrine of the Republic.
Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. Redeemer of Slavery and Father of the Cuban Nation. 1915
Eulogy of Dr. Antonio de la Piedra. 1932
The Epic of a Morning. October Tenth of 1868. Discourse. 1923
The Son of the Liberator. Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. Biographical Sketch. 1923
Essays in Historical Dissemination. 1924
Letters and Nationalism. 1925
Manuel Sanguily, 1925
The Initial Impulse. Historical Study. 1930
Francisco Lufríu, Hero and Martyr. Discourse 1931
Gambetta's Secret. Historical Novels. 1932
Manuel Márquez Sterling, Writer and Citizen. 1938
Farewell to Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. Discourse. 1939