Eduardo Torres Cuevas and "the passion that leads to limitless dedication"

September 4, 2020

The renowned Cuban historian Eduardo Torres Cuevas, doctor in Historical Sciences, was born in Havana on this very day in 1942, and has dedicated his life to the study and research of Cuban history, contributing through his work as a teacher and the publication of an important group of texts.

Torres Cuevas is a Full Member of the Cuban Academy of the Language, National Prize winner in Social Sciences and also in History, and Félix Varela Prize winner.

He has been a researcher and professor in various faculties of the University of Havana, at the Enrique José Varona Superior Pedagogical Institute and the Superior Institute of Medical Sciences of Havana, among other prestigious teaching centers.
He is a member of the National Union of Historians of Cuba, of the Association of Historians of the Caribbean, of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba and of the Academy of Sciences of New York.

Doctor Torres Cuevas was elected member of the Council of State in the extraordinary session of the IX Legislature of the National Assembly of People's Power held on October 10, 2019.

Recently he was appointed director of the Office of the Martiano Program, after successfully directing for twelve years the José Martí National Library of Cuba.

Eduardo Torres Cuevas is a speaker with an enchanting power; added to his vast knowledge of homeland history is the passion with which he defends it with fiery rhetoric, but at the same time with plain and simple manners as true wisdom is transmitted.

Listening to him speak about Maceo, just to give an example, strengthens the admiration that the hero awakens through his deeds, and compels one to learn more about his life and about any topic the historian addresses.

In 2012 Torres Cuevas received in a ceremony held in this capital the insignias corresponding to the Order Knight of the Legion of Honor of the French Republic, in recognition of the multiple actions that the academician has developed in the field of humanities and culture, in direct connection with the Gallic country and fundamentally with its university sphere.

Torres Cuevas is the founder-president of the Voltaire Chair of the University of Havana; he has also been a visiting and associate professor at several French universities; for more than 25 years he has taught Cuban and Latin American history and culture at these institutions, and has directed doctoral theses at several of these institutions; he is a permanent collaborator with the French Alliance of Cuba.

In his words of thanks, doctor Torres Cuevas made a recount of the historical facts and French personalities that influenced his formation and recalled that: "The motto Liberty, equality, fraternity, was the emblem in the battlefields for our independence and for social equality, for two centuries".

And then he made a statement that reveals his attitude toward creation and explains his broad and admired cultural work:
"I receive this high decoration that honors me and honors my country without fanfare, without expecting it (…) I have loved culture and sciences, as simple as that, but that love unleashes the passion that leads to unlimited dedication, without hours; my moments of exaltation are always related to that instant when Sartrean anguish ceases, because the creative work of that moment has been fulfilled".

Happy birthday to Torres Cuevas on his 78th birthday