José Fernández Vega, Director of Bohemia Magazine for 25 Years, Passes Away

December 12, 2022

On December 11, 2022, José R. Fernández Vega, director of Bohemia magazine, passed away at the age of 75. On this painful occasion, we share a biographical review of his work as a professional, to remember his legacy as a journalist and a man committed to the Revolution.

Born into a humble family from Gibara in 1947, he began working life at age 9 as an apprentice, part-time, in a printing press in Las Tunas, and later as an assistant and worker in two similar establishments in Bayamo. Simultaneously, he studied in evening sessions of primary school through third grade and in night courses from fourth grade through basic secondary education in Bayamo. And self-taught, through free exams, he completed his pre-university education in Santiago de Cuba.

In 1966 he enrolled in a directed course at the School of Letters at the University of Oriente. Two years later the Party sent him to a journalism course at its National School, Ñico López. In 1970 he went to the University of Havana to complete his studies for a degree in Journalism, and graduated as the top student of his class.

When the Revolution triumphed, he was 12 years old. He quickly integrated and became part of the Youth Patrols. He moved from the AJR to the UJC and was a founder of the Student Militias and the Union of High School Students (UES) of Bayamo. He was vice president of the latter in the then Cauto-Bayamo-Jiguaní region.

In 1962 he was designated by the UJC to oversee work with students mobilized to coffee harvesting in Felicidad de Yateras, Guantánamo. Two years later he was named general secretary of the UJC in that municipality. He was also secretary of the UJC committees at the School of Journalism of the University of Havana (1971) and of the Sierra Maestra newspaper (1973). In 1975 he was granted membership in the Communist Party of Cuba, where he held various responsibilities.

He devoted himself to journalism from the early years of the Revolution as a youth correspondent. In 1964 the Party selected him for the first course of the Pablo de la Torriente Brau school of correspondents in Santiago de Cuba. Upon finishing, at age 17, he was assigned to the Sierra Maestra newspaper as a layout artist, his first job in the sector, preceded by work experience in graphic arts.

Shortly after, following the recovery from a devastating hurricane, the newspaper's management sent him to bring in reports from the municipality of Río Cauto, and in this way he began his work as a reporter. He later became page chief and subsequently editor-in-chief, while continuing to write using different genres on various topics.

Among his most important news coverage of that period, as part of a journalism pool, he was at Expo'67 in Montreal, Canada.

He was elected as an organizer of UPEC in the East, responsible for structuring regional delegations, until in 1968 he was sent to Ñico López.

As a student in Havana, he was elected president of UPEC at Ñico López and did teaching practices at the newspaper El Mundo, where he was editorial shift chief and as a correspondent in Matanzas province for three months, without affecting his academic performance. During the Ten Million Ton Harvest, he was assigned as reinforcement to the Sierra Maestra newspaper in the position of Information Chief. At the University of Havana, he directed the newspaper Despegue, which circulated throughout the Colina. A significant anecdote from his publications in this student publication was his criticism of the Cuban film Pages from Martí's Diary, which prompted an exchange with the president of ICAIC, Alfredo Guevara, with the fortunate result that he granted him a free pass to all cinemas in Havana, something very stimulating for a devoted film enthusiast.

Upon completing his journalism studies in 1972, he was assigned again to the Sierra Maestra newspaper. There he was Editorial Subdirector, while personally covering activities prioritized by the top political leadership in the territory, such as internal party processes, among others.

He also covered in the press the visits of important foreign personalities. During the IV Summit of the MNOAL in Algeria, he was designated to be part of Prensa Latina's press team, and one of his chronicles led the front page of Granma by recreating the atmosphere in Algiers at the beginning of the event. As the most significant aspect of that work, the Minister of Dignity personally instructed him to interview Egyptian leader Muammar el-Gaddafi, who agreed and informed him that he would take a positive position regarding Cuba. The work was placed in the hands of Roa, who stated that it turned out to be very timely and effective.

After the First Party Congress, he was designated as director of Sierra Maestra, but when the new eastern provinces were created, Commander Almeida asked him to found, from scratch, the newspaper La Demajagua in Granma, a task that required dedication and notable effort, supported by his experience in graphic arts and journalism. While continuing to practice journalism at the same time, he managed to interview Fidel at Alto del Naranjo in the Sierra Maestra, and asked him what Granma province should do to earn the venue for a July 26th celebration. This prompted the Commander in Chief to direct the tasks the province should focus on to hold the national event there the following year, 1982, which indeed occurred.

In 1981 he was promoted to Head of the Department of Revolutionary Orientation (DOR) of the Party in Granma province.

During this period, the DOR of the Central Committee entrusted him with directing the completion of the setup of the newspaper 5 de Septiembre in Cienfuegos province. He participated in organizing the event marking the 30th anniversary of Fidel and Raúl's meeting at Cinco Palmas in the Sierra Maestra, with both present. He was also designated as investor in the new building of the newspaper La Demajagua, inaugurated by Fidel.

Shortly after Cuban cooperation began with the new progressive government of Suriname, he was designated by the Party's Central Committee to fulfill an internationalist mission (1981-82) as an advisor to that country's president on organizing information as a mechanism for popular mobilization, a task he completed successfully.

Considering his record as a journalist and experience as a press director, he was promoted to a position in the Central Committee in 1985. In these roles he served as chief of the Analysis Section and later successively overseeing the written press, national information, and particularly press coverage of the activities of the Commander in Chief.

Following the country's entry into the Special Period, he held important responsibilities in advising on the decisions adopted regarding the use of available critical paper reserves, as well as in designing and coordinating adjustments in the media that continued to be published, even with severe restrictions on format and pagination, and distribution on Radio and other functions, for journalists who had to be relocated. He also headed press coverage of international events in different countries.

In 1996 he was requested by comrade José Ramón Machado Ventura to be his Chief of Staff, until in 1998, 24 years ago, he was designated as director of Bohemia.

Together with the magazine's staff, he has maintained it in prominent positions in UPEC emulation competitions, including written press festivals. For 19 consecutive years it was National Vanguard of the Culture Union. He recovered investigative journalism with the Section In Cuba and opinion pages, while also producing extraordinary and special editions associated with the most relevant national events and commemorative dates, a distinctive hallmark of the publication.

In the last three years he was proposed by the UPEC delegation of Bohemia for the José Martí Prize for Journalism for lifetime achievement.

He was elected as a deputy to the National Assembly of People's Power in its seventh legislature (2008-2013), and served for three terms as a member of the National Electoral Commission CEN. The municipal assemblies of People's Power in Bayamo (2009) and Gibara (2018) granted him the status of Distinguished Son of their respective territories, and Gibara, moreover, the City Shield.

The FAR recognized him in 2018 with a replica of the machete of Generalísimo Máximo Gómez for his committed activism with the Revolution and defense of the Homeland. He was a captain in the reserve and was awarded two additional distinctions from this institution. He also received, among others, the distinctions Raúl Gómez García from the Culture Union (1982); September 28 from the CDRs (1984); Félix Elmuza from UPEC (1996). Also the seals for the XX anniversary of the UJC (1982); Laureate from the Culture Union (2014); and the 55th anniversary of ICRT (2018), and the commemorative medal for the 50th anniversary of UPEC.