Cuban Journalist and Diplomat Manuel Yepe Menéndez Passes Away

May 23, 2022

The renowned journalist and diplomat Manuel Yepe Menéndez passed away this Monday in Havana, after several days fighting for his life.

Yepe, a recognized columnist for multiple Cuban and foreign press outlets, was born in 1936 and from 1954 was an insurrectional combatant in Havana as a member of the Youth Brigades of the July 26 Movement (M-26-7) at the University of Havana.

He worked on the reproduction and distribution of Fidel Castro's defense argument as the principal defendant for the assaults on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes in Bayamo. Between April and July 1958 he directed the clandestine magazine of the M-26-7 named ACCIÓN, which was published weekly in Havana and identified itself as the Organ of Cuban Youth. When the Revolution triumphed, he served as provincial vice-coordinator and head of propaganda for the M-26-7 in Matanzas province.

A graduate in Law, Economic Management and Social Sciences, he served as Director of Protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Relations, Ambassador of Cuba to Romania, General Director of the Prensa Latina news agency, Vice President of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television, Director of the Guerrillero newspaper of Pinar del Río, National Director of the TIPS project of the UNDP and member of the Secretariat of the Cuban Movement for Peace.

He defined himself as "a Cuban revolutionary in the ranks" and "a fidelista among the many of us who participated in the Revolution in the second line and gave our lives to that beautiful political project."

Yepe was a member of the Union of Journalists of Cuba. The national presidency of UPEC extends its condolences to his family and friends.