The prominent intellectual Rolando López del Amo dies

February 11, 2021

The Cuban Institute of the Book and the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba deeply regret the death on February 10, in this capital, of the distinguished Cuban intellectual and diplomat Rolando López del Amo.

He was born in Havana on September 5, 1937. Poet, writer, professor, journalist and diplomat. He was professor of Universal Literature and Cuban Literature at the Enrique José Varona Higher Pedagogical Institute and the School of Letters at the University of Havana, where he also served as President of the University Extension Commission, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Head of the Department of Sociology.

He was founding Sub-Director of Editora Política and Head of the Department of Legal, Historical and Philosophical Disciplines at the Raúl Roa García Higher Institute of International Relations. He headed the Directorates for Asia and Oceania, Press Information and Culture, International Organizations and Documentation of the Ministry of Foreign Relations.

He was among the founders of the National Council of Culture and was the first President of the Provincial Council of Culture of the former province of Havana. He had previously been Director of Fine Arts of the Municipality of Havana and Sub-Director of the Municipal Institute of Culture of Marianao. He worked in the founding of UNEAC.

He was Ambassador of Cuba to the United Nations and UNESCO and to China, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Myanmar.

As a journalist he contributed to Hoy, El Mundo, Pionero, El Caimán Barbudo, Revolución y Cultura, Granma, Verde Olivo, Bohemia, Santiago (Santiago de Cuba), Casa de las Américas, Unión, Signos (Santa Clara), La Gaceta de Cuba, Mella. He also wrote for Prensa Latina, Radio Reloj and the digital magazine Cubarte.

With the book La vida en limpio he obtained an honorable mention for poetry in the David and 26 de Julio competitions in 1969. His work has been included in the anthologies Poemas David'69 (1970), Poesía de la Revolución cubana (1973), Dice la palma (1979), Poesía para la victoria (1981), Poesía cubana de amor, Siglo xx (1983), Poesía social cubana (1989) and Poesía de Cuba (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, 1980). He also served as a judge for the 13 de Marzo, David, Ismaelillo, Nicolás Guillén and Premio de la Crítica competitions.

His notable works include Antiguas Comuniones, Ediciones Unión, 1971; Los nombres y los días, Ediciones Unión, 1977; El amor y el tiempo, Letras Cubanas, 1985; Camino del Viento, Ediciones Unión, 1989; La piedra viva, The Economic Times, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 1997; De silencios y lunas, Letras Cubanas, 2005; Barrio Séptimo, Colección Sur, San José, Costa Rica, 2009; Cercanas lejanías, Letras Cubanas, 2013, as well as children's and young adults' books published by Editorial Gente Nueva: Vecinos, 2007; Contar de Cuentos, 2012 and Cien preguntas sobre la India, in collaboration with Mercedes Crespo, 2014.

He will be remembered as a generous, humble, creative and cultured person. Teacher of several generations of poets, he devoted his talent, life and work to the service of the Revolution and of national culture.