Prestigious essayist Esteban Morales dies at 79 during family trip to Colombia

May 19, 2022

Renowned essayist, political scientist and professor Esteban Morales Domínguez passed away this Wednesday at the age of 79, victim of a heart attack.

Through Twitter, the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, wrote about the intellectual:

"The surprising death of Esteban Morales grieves us. We will miss his intelligent, incisive and committed evaluation of the problems of our time. My condolences to his family, friends and to Cuban intellectuality, which he brought prestige to through his work."

Member of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba and of the José Antonio Aponte Commission, within which he developed intense work, he left behind important essays in the field of studying the links between Cuba and the United States.

Among the most significant titles in that area stand out Cuba-United States relations: a critical history and From confrontation to normalization attempts: United States policy toward Cuba, the latter in collaboration with essayist Elier Ramírez.

In another regard, one of his most impactful books was Challenges of the racial problem in Cuba, published in 2007 by the Fernando Ortiz Foundation.

Morales' intellectual trajectory was linked to the University of Havana, where he initially trained as an economist, dedicated himself to teaching and served as dean of the Faculty of Humanities and founding director of the Center for Studies on the United States.

On the Facebook platform his son, Ernesto Morales del Llano, expressed:

Friends and acquaintances, indeed, this morning my father Esteban Morales Dominguez passed away in the city of Medellín. In the morning he felt ill, we called an ambulance and took him to the hospital where he received excellent emergency medical care, but it was impossible for him to overcome several successive cardiac arrests. In recent months he had the opportunity to be with his three grandchildren and his children. Both my mother Katia and my sister Gisela (in Cuba), my brother Esteban and I appreciate everyone's concern. My father had a life to celebrate and we are at peace having been with my mother and two of his children by his side at the moment it happened. We thank everyone, on behalf of the entire family, for the words and show of support we have received throughout the day. Thank you.