Roberto Pavón Tamayo

National Journalism Prize José Martí.

Pavón, born in Holguín began his journalism career in the weekly Surco and in Sierra Maestra. From this latter media outlet he was subdirector and director during the years 1961 and 1965.

He participated in the clandestine struggle against Batista's dictatorship, for which he was imprisoned.

He played an active role in the former province of Oriente in the founding of the Union of Journalists of Cuba in 1963. Commenting years later on what occurred in Santiago de Cuba he said: "It was something surprising the result of that meeting held in the main hall of the municipal government building, facing Parque Céspedes. There were present 120 Eastern journalists, combative, enthusiastic, faithful ideological workers of the revolution. One could appreciate in this meeting something that was already general throughout the country: in the same trench were united journalists who already had gray hair and young people, forming what we could call a new generation, united in a common ideal".

During the literacy campaign, in 1961, he joined it. Pavón was founder of the School of Correspondents "Pablo de la Torriente Brau". He also worked at Ahora, directed the publication El Orientador Revolucionario and collaborated in Verde Olivo. He also worked at the Cuban Television News.

He fulfilled an internationalist mission in Angola, where he was a member of the Board of Directors of Verde Olivo Internacionalista.

He performed diplomatic work at the Cuban embassy in the USSR and, subsequently, as an official of the international department of the Central Committee of the Party.

He founded in 1980 the provincial newspaper Tribuna de la Habana, of which he was director until 1985. From 1985 he was deputy head of the International Department of Granma. He directed the National Information Agency from 1986 until 2000. Before retiring, he worked within the Communication team of the Union of Journalists of Cuba and was a collaborator of Prensa Latina.

In 1999, on the occasion of the VII Congress of the UPEC, he received from Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, the National Journalism Prize José Martí for his lifetime achievement.

He received numerous decorations and distinctions, among them the Félix Elmuza, granted by the Union of Journalists of Cuba.

Source: CubaPeriodistas.cu