René Navarro Arbelo

René Navarro is one of four Cuban journalists who holds the Abelardo Raidi award, presented by the Federation of Sports Journalists of America, and has the great merit of being admired by young people who are starting out in that profession.

The history of Cuban sports narrators reserves a special chapter for René Navarro. Through his voice, entire generations of Cubans reached ecstasy with each victory of the "spectacular brunettes of the Caribbean," chanted in unison "Anier! Anier!" with each hurdle that pushed him toward Olympic glory, held their breath with Iván Pedroso's final jump, or "flew" that devilish hectometer alongside Carl Lewis, "the son of the wind," in the best race ever held in the 20th century.

Respectful, controversial, spontaneous; a true artist of oratory. It can be said that Navarro represents, for sports narration, rhythm, strength, Cubanness, and authenticity. You can feel it in René's voice during a set of Cuba against Italy in the World League. If you don't believe me, try and listen, pay attention to every detail; mix them if you like it better: "So much, so much, so much for Cuba..., Cuba up! The wanting has ended!"

Also for those of us who enjoy phrases like "Cuba up, Cuba up" or "Mireya, from Camagüey, from Cuba and for the World," or the creator of the title of The Caribbean Brunettes for the champion Cuban women's volleyball team.

A native of Madruga, since childhood in the Llanes - Heras primary school (now Municipal Museum), volleyball was played a lot in its interior courtyard and in a field located several blocks away baseball pickups were constant. Less than 50 meters from his house were two parks (central and children's) and there daily bicycle races or roller skating competitions took place. By fifth grade basketball began to "catch on."

To the sports already mentioned were added later in the Ramiro Guerra Sánchez basic secondary school sports such as athletics and gymnastics.

Bicycle rides from Madruga to Unión de Reyes or Madruga – Matanzas – Varadero became very frequent, especially on weekends. He already had training to cover 100 and more kilometers. Once he joined the unforgettable Sergio "Pipián" Martínez – later a star – and his friend Armando López to complete an extensive 160-kilometer journey. From that moment on, the figure of the extra-class "Pipián" made him a faithful lover of road cycling.

Professional boxing that was broadcast on Saturdays on TV, Cuban winter baseball, and amateur leagues of the Athletic Union, Quivicán and Pedro Betancourt he followed with enormous passion. He knew at age 10 the teams and best baseball players of the Major Leagues. He still keeps postcards of figures that made history in the 1950s. He reviewed the newspapers of that era daily.

On the field of the Liceo de Madruga the official scorer appointed used him as an assistant to keep the box score. Some time later – 1961 – they made him a scorer and statistician – compiler of all games played in the eastern zone of the old province of Havana.

In 1962 he received a course in refereeing, scoring, and timekeeping in basketball. A few months later he was already working on courts all over Cuba as a member of the official body. Many were the national championships in which his age was younger than well-known players.

He entered the ESEF Manuel Fajardo in 1965 as a student in the course for sports coaches of the EIDE. Previously he was simultaneously a pre-university student in Güines and a physical education teacher (unlicensed) at the Joe Westbrook basic secondary school in the municipality of Nueva Paz. He also collaborated with the secondary school where he had studied: Ramiro Guerra Sánchez.

When he began at Fajardo he already had ties with a good number of his professors and in just a few weeks he became a student-instructor not yet graduated. Upon finishing his studies with first honors, he was appointed Head of the Basketball Department of the EIDE of the old Havana (Finca de los Monos in Santa Catalina and Palatino) and continued working at Fajardo itself and with the first Camilitos who were studying near Playa Baracoa.

In 1967 the call was issued for the course in sports narrators-commentators for the entire country (several dozen applicants) and after the usual tests was selected among those enrolled. There were already people who knew him on the radio, as since his secondary school days he had been a volunteer correspondent for Radio Reloj in his municipality.

It was a necessity for radio and television, as well as for the growing Cuban sports movement, that new narrators-commentators emerge. They received theoretical and practical classes of high quality from the most qualified professionals working at Fajardo. That work was supplemented by the ICR, an institution that provided the COCO station and several of its best announcers and animators for our practice.

Before the end of that year 1967 he already held positions at different provincial stations. He started at Radio 26 in Matanzas and then Cadena Occidental (Radio Guamá) in Pinar del Río. He frequently visited the sports section of the Granma newspaper in the evening hours and there he heard wise advice from Elio Constantín, Daniel Reguera, and Bobby Salamanca himself, while familiarizing himself with what would be published the next day.

In the afternoon time slot he covered a shift in the Radio Reloj newsroom and various programs on provincial and national networks. Months later other opportunities opened up.

Baseball was the preference of most of his colleagues, but he understood that his path would go through other activities, whose general knowledge, mastery, and popularity were very scarce. Thus he ventured into other sports with all the help of coaches and INDER specialists. The way of expressing and transmitting athletics, volleyball, cycling, handball, water polo, rowing, kayaking, swimming, fencing, etc., was something new in our country.

We knew how to do baseball, boxing, basketball and to a lesser extent soccer, but NOT how to reach people with those modalities in which the country was already showing advances within the region and the continent. He even had to manage and design some cards at the INDER printing press to update records of all kinds in timed and distance sports. With no references coming to us by radio and TV from abroad, this topic was very complicated.

Until the end of the last century this task was very difficult. Telexes, cable agencies, and limited publications that were available to them were our sources. Today everything is different; the sites of each International Federation, Wikipedia, specialized publications, social networks, and other means facilitate the work.

René retired in 2005 as it became complicated to live in Nueva Paz and constantly travel to Havana. And barely a few weeks after retiring he received proposals from different sources in Cuba and abroad. He preferred to do a weekly space on Cubavisión Internacional, two weekly frequencies on Cadena Habana and later on COCO, some other collaboration for different media, and the magazine Excelencias del Motor. These and other activities with INDER occupy a good part of his life.

He has been hired for editions of the Olympic Games. At London 2012 he was part of the International Olympic Television Organization team and in Rio de Janeiro he worked for the Claro Sports television network, based in Mexico but broadcasting to many Latin American countries. At the Brazilian event he narrated beach volleyball from the very facility located in Copacabana.

His record includes eight editions of the Olympic Games, 11 Panamericans and 9 Central American Games, as well as countless world championships, world cups, Grand Prix and other international events in Volleyball, Athletics and Basketball. 26 editions of the Vuelta Ciclística a Cuba and hundreds of national competitions; host of the TV programs "A Jugar," Maratón Recreativo and others such as Prensa Deportiva Comenta. Commentator and announcer on NTV, NND and other spaces of the ICRT News Services.
Recipient of the international sports press award (AIPS) for lifetime achievement and the same national recognition from UPEC and INDER. In his work history are the medals Raúl Gómez García, Martyrs of Barbados, seal of the lauded, artist of merit and Pequeña Pantalla award, as well as other recognitions given in different provinces and municipalities of the country.

Collaborator on the Marabana - Maracuba project and other national and provincial INDER activities for 53 years.