Caridad Martínez, 2017 National Radio Award Winner, Passed Away

January 28, 2025

The distinguished radio program director, Caridad Martínez, who worked for more than six decades at Radio Progreso, passed away on Sunday, January 26, 2025, confirmed on X by the media outlet's general director, Yuzaima Cardona Villena.

"A woman of light passes on, her fruitful work remains. Condolences to the family and Cuban Radio, which suffers this significant loss," expressed Cardona Villena on the social network X.

In an interview granted in 2022 to the La Onda de la Alegría website, Martínez said that, in her early days, she took on the spaces Correo Campesino, En la tienda del pueblo, Fiesta guajira, Por nuestros campos y ciudades, Actualidad mundial, Cuba en el mundo and Aventuras del mar at that station.

There she worked "with figures of the caliber of Carlos Felipe González Más, Julio Batista, Juanita Calderilla, Rolando Leyva, the entire cast of singers and musicians from the guajiro programs and other greats of the medium, who revealed to me their most intimate 'secrets'".

Caridad Martínez deserved multiple recognitions throughout her career, including First place in guidance programs for Francamente, during the National Radio Festival in 1997; and the First Prize and Grand Prize for the space that best reflected the thinking of José Martí, in 1998, at the same competition.

In 2000 she obtained the Caracol Prize from the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (Uneac) for directing the radio novel Viento sur; the Diploma for artistic merit from the University of the Arts (2002); the Caribbean Broadcasting Union Prize (2004) and the Master of Youth from the Hermanos Saíz Association in 2020.

Born on February 19, 1944, Caridad dedicated more than six decades of her life to radio, especially to Radio Progreso, where her talent and passion left an indelible mark.

Her career began in 1961, when, being almost a child, she entered that station as a copyist of radio novel scripts. From that moment on, she developed a deep connection with the medium.

Caridad not only stood out for her creative work, but also for her commitment to training new generations of professionals.

She taught courses and workshops at the Faculty of Audiovisual Communication Media Arts (FAMCA) of the University of the Arts (ISA), sharing her knowledge and experiences with young students.

Her dedication to teaching made her worthy of the Master of Youth Award from the Hermanos Saíz Association in 2020.

On a personal level, Caridad shared her life with Alberto Luberta Noy, another pillar of Cuban radio and creator of the emblematic program Alegrías de Sobremesa. Their marriage, which extended for 48 years from 1968 until Luberta's death in 2017, was a union marked by a shared passion for a medium of which they were unquestionable references in Cuba.