Dies in Havana the prominent sports journalist Elio Menéndez

June 14, 2020

The prominent journalist and sports writer, Elio Menéndez García, passed away on Friday, June 12 in the Cuban capital, at the age of 90.

With an extensive body of work in sports journalism, Menéndez had a long career in the Cuban press, which led him to be deserving of important recognitions such as the José Martí National Journalism Prize and the Abelardo Raidi Award, granted by the Federation of Sports Journalists of America.

In his extensive résumé, also included are ten awards in the National Sports Journalism Competition "José González Barros" and the distinctions Martyrs of Barbados and the Order of Sports Merit.

From his imagination sprang countless chronicles that today form part of the history of Cuban journalism, while he had the opportunity to participate in dozens of first-rate sporting events.

When in 2013 he was asked in an interview what all those recognitions meant to him, he responded in this way:

"They are a recognition of my perseverance. I was a very constant person, stubborn. When we wrote on typewriters, I would write an article up to four times, until it came out right and I was satisfied with that version. I consider myself a worker of letters."

He was president of the Circle of Sports Journalists of the Union of Journalists of Cuba (Upec) between 1992 and 1996.