Cuban Journalist and Intellectual Carlos Alberto Montaner Dies in Madrid

July 1, 2023

Journalist and writer Carlos Alberto Montaner died at his home in Madrid this Thursday at the age of 80, the family reported in a statement.

"He passed away at his residence peacefully and surrounded by his most beloved ones after facing a neurodegenerative disease," progressive supranuclear palsy, the document adds.

"In his name, his wife Linda, his children Gina and Carlos, and his granddaughters Paola, Gabriela and Claudia thank the Spanish public health professionals, the Asociación Derecho a Morir Dignamente, and all the family members and friends who have shown him so much affection in the final stretch of a prolific life marked by the defense of individual freedoms."

Montaner was born in Cuba in 1943. He also lived in Miami and Madrid, was a university professor and columnist for several media outlets in Latin America, Spain and the United States, including CNN en Español.

An active opponent of the Castro regime in Cuba, he advocated throughout his life for democracy in that and other countries in our region.
Carlos Montaner.

Montaner left Miami in October 2022 with his wife Linda to settle in Madrid, where he had previously lived since 1970 and had owned a publishing house. During his Madrid exile, he founded the Unión Liberal Cubana party with the idea of preparing for a democratic transition in Cuba, a capital aspiration he did not live to see.

On May 6 of this year, Montaner published his last column, published in various Latin American media outlets. It was not only a farewell, but he announced that he suffered from "a rare brain disease." "I was diagnosed at hospital Gregorio Marañón —one of the best in Spain— after an MRI. Three people per 100,000 have it. It is not contagious, nor hereditary. There is no cure for it. It is not known how it begins or why it originates. It is from the Parkinson's family, but without tremors. Hence the confusion in the diagnosis. It is characterized by preventing me from conversing well and reading, beyond the headlines (Linda, my wife, and our daughter, Gina, read the newspapers to me), unlike writing, which I have been able to do as well as it has allowed me to carry on for more than half a century writing —among other things— a syndicated column a week. I have written thousands of columns and I owe everything I have done subsequently to my articles," he expressed. The disease is called progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP).
Support for Biden and Criticism of Trump

Montaner not only distinguished himself in the field of letters and newspapers, but was a regular guest on international news networks, such as CNN en Español, which lamented his death. The journalist established himself as one of the most powerful and measured voices of Cuban exile. A great expert in the details of the island, despite the distance imposed by 60 years of exile, and the intricacies of the Cuban regime. But he also broke the tacit rule of the majority of Cubans living in Florida: Montaner supported the Democrats, specifically Joe Biden's presidential race. Furthermore, he was critical of former president Donald Trump. He described Trump as a person with an "arrogant and overbearing character who lies or exaggerates, who shouts and constantly interrupts the opponent in a debate."

The reality is that Montaner accomplished a great deal, very much indeed. A vast journalistic body of work, composed of thousands of articles and about thirty books, including his last one, the autobiography Sin ir más lejos, aside from his involvement in the Liberal International, in which he served as vice president for 20 years.