Cuban actor Abel Rodríguez dies at 50 from a pulmonary embolism

October 16, 2021

The Cuban actor, Abel Rodríguez, ex-partner of Edith Massola and father of young presenter Paula Massola, died in the early morning of October 15 in the city of Miami where he had been living for years. Abel, 50 years old, died in the city of Miami.

The news was shared by several colleagues on social media. Edith Massola, his ex-partner, only shared a candle in her Instagram stories and put his name. While Paula, his daughter, dedicated some emotional words to him.

"Some say I have your lips, and your nose, those who knew you and have talked to me told me that you reminded them of you, I don't know, but I don't doubt it. I have to use the imagination, the one they say I also inherited from you, to create scenarios with you where I see you after so long," Paula wrote.

"As a child I sometimes did it: you appeared at my school, or you arrived by surprise, or I visited you, those scenarios are full of funny anecdotes, perhaps you also created them in your mind at some point and perhaps they exist somewhere. Rest dad, peace and light for your soul I wish you with all my heart. I hope that wherever you are you read this," added the also actress.

Many television viewers in Cuba remember his leading man character when he brought to life Ernesto, that young painter who won over viewers and the innocent Adriana, played by Sheila Roche, in the Cuban television soap opera Salir de Noche.

Acting was not a coincidence in his life, rather it was an inheritance: his father was a film producer and one of his brothers is a director, so Abel continued with the tradition. He began his acting training in Cuba, at the National School of Art Instructors, ENIA, although he did not graduate, he completed three years and in the fourth he withdrew to join a theater company, with which he left his country.

In 2004, fate wanted him to emigrate to Colombia, a country that gave him several characters such as detective Camilo Pulido in the series La viuda de la mafia. For almost five years now, Abel lived with his family in the city of Miami, where he did audiovisual work behind the camera.

In an interview given to Somos Miami TV a few months ago, the artist recalled when he lost the money earned from his years of work in Colombia.

"I live in a somewhat wild way. I try to have big expectations to accomplish, not things to have. At one moment life gave me all this: a much better economic situation. My way of being led me to enjoy it, spend it. I had children, separations. Certain things that ended an economic cycle that I was carrying in my life and a more important one began: that of maturation," he confessed.

He said that when he got into the skin of a character, he vented all the emotions that in real life seemed to have under a deep sleep.

In 1996 he leaves his native country to work as an entertainer at the Palacio de la Salsa, in Cancún (Mexico). His shyness and his "fear of social life," as he himself defines it, were not an obstacle for him to be recognized during a year as the cheerful voice of rumba on Mexican beaches.

Other actors, such as Edwin Fernández, told him: "Abel Rodríguez, Abelito my buddy, my brother, my archnemesis from 'Salir de Noche' the 'Prince of the Foxes', my kind, laughing and joking friend in real life. How sad your departure my brother, how unfair life is," the actor Edwin Fernández began saying on Facebook.

"Always fun, laughing and an excellent actor. What a damn shame brother. And I don't want you to take what I'm about to say as political, because I knew your way of thinking, but death surprised you outside your Homeland, that's why I say Homeland and Life," he added later.

"For you and for all my artists and my Cuban brothers who live outside their Homeland which is and will be CUBA. And if I bother their family in any way with this, my sincere and enormous apologies. But it's what I feel about your departure from your Homeland. Rest in Peace my brother," he concluded.

"A friend has gone, a brother, a accomplice in this world, I'm left with our moments, the laughter, the hugs, the endless talks, I'm left with your always question about sugar in the coffee, I'm left with our mornings in La Calera and with the immense instant in which we became brothers. We're going to miss you Abe, a lot, my soul is devastated, I know you'll take care of healing it," wrote the daughter of Coralita Veloz.

Rodríguez currently lived in Miami, after years of work in Colombia. He had recently worked on "Plantados," the last production by Lilo Vilaplana in the United States.

He also worked in dozens of soap operas, some of them with great international impact. Notable are Celia (2015), El Clon (2010), La viuda de la mafia (2004), El chivo (2014), among others.