Rafael Serrano Retires After Forty Years as Presenter of Cuba's Estelar News Program

November 24, 2021

Cuban announcer and presenter Rafael Serrano said goodbye last Monday, November 22nd, after four decades at the Estelar News program on Cuban Television, the NTV.

Unexpectedly, the announcement was made at the end of Monday's broadcast by his colleague, announcer Agnés Becerra, who delivered a tribute dedicated to her peer in television.

"More than 40 years in front of the cameras of the national television news program validate the work of my colleague Rafael Serrano, a man whose merits here would be too many to list. He has been an example of discipline, modesty, rigor, excellent command of technique, good taste and respect for the audience. That is what has characterized his time at the news program," Becerra said.

The announcer received recognition from colleagues and friends, among whom stands out that of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez.

The vice president of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (today the Institute of Information and Social Communication) presented him with a portrait showing Serrano in conversation with Fidel Castro.

Other friends of the announcer also left their messages of support for the renowned presenter. "I did not come to say goodbye, or if you will, it is a farewell that becomes an eternal see you later. I come, more than anything, to thank life for the opportunity it gave me to live the time that has been my lot to live," said Serrano emotionally.

Those of us who worked in the same organization knew of Serrano's arrival as a graphic reporter at the provincial newspaper Sierra Maestra starting in 1972. Later we learned of his time in the internationalist mission, as part of the first group of tank operators who fought in Angola in December 1975.

Already from 1977, during a visit to the Isle of Youth, we heard him through Radio Caribe, from the Viet Nam camp, during the grapefruit harvest at the National Schools of Art.

In 1979 he joined as an announcer at Tele Rebelde in Santiago de Cuba, where he participated in various programs and also in the News program on Radio Revolución CMKC.

I remember him arriving at National Television at the same time I was participating in the program Together at 9 and other musical shows.

Now at his farewell, Serrano himself introduces his successor, Rey Gómez, who comes from a rich period as an announcer and journalist at TeleSur from Caracas, Venezuela. No one better than Rey Gómez for this replacement than an announcer of high caliber, specialized in languages and with solid cultural and political preparation.