Historian and Essayist Newton Briones Montoto Dies

December 30, 2023

Historian and essayist Newton Briones Montoto died in Havana, as a result of what appears to have been an assault while walking down Fifth Avenue, Miramar.

Writer Alberto Marrero expressed his condolences on behalf of the Association of Writers of the Uneac. He described Briones Montoto as a "distinguished member of the Section of historical and social literature".

Born in Havana in 1941, Briones earned a degree in History from the University of Havana in 1975. He was the younger brother of Antonio Briones Montoto, who died at age 27 in Venezuela in 1967.

On this matter, Newton once said: "He was the one who took the first men to Venezuela. Then I would get into a conflict by revealing details that people don't want told. I started a book that I titled 'The Things I Remember'. And in the things that I remember there are things about my brother. But I stopped writing the book".

Between 1970 and 1989, according to his biography on Ecured, Briones worked in the Ministry of the Interior.

He specialized in Cuban republican history and dedicated himself to researching and reconstructing processes from the period between 1925 and 1958.

As La Joven Cuba recalled, Briones Montoto published numerous books and articles with a desacralizing perspective on figures and processes of national history.

Among his texts stand out That Silent Decision (1998), Direct Action (1999), General Return (2005), Hopes and Disappointments: A History of the 1930s (2008), and A Daughter Vindicates Her Father (2011).

Cuban journalist based in Miami Max Lesnik wrote: "Sad news. The intellectual writer Newton Briones died in Havana, apparently murdered in a robbery, leaving an irreparable void in his generation. Rest in Peace".

Newton, columnist for La Joven Cuba, was a great expert on the republican period, mainly of the Authentic Party and the figure of Eduardo Chibás. His analyses, free from any dogmatism, were characterized by unraveling little-known figures and events of Cuban history and their connection to the present," commented La Joven Cuba on Facebook.

Newton Briones Montoto, member of the section of historical and social literature of the Association of Writers of the UNEAC, was recognized for his work as a historian and his research, including his work on the Marquitos case and his most recent study on the death of Jesús Menéndez.