I was born in 1957 in the city of Cienfuegos, Cuba. Since I was a child, I felt drawn to reading and later to writing, two passions to which I still hold fast.
I fondly remember the youth room of the “Roberto García Valdés” library and its attentive workers Ileana, Yolanda, and María Victoria. It was there that I discovered Emilio Salgari, Jules Verne, Karl May, and Enid Blyton, just to name a few of the first writers I read and admired.
In the pre-university “Jorge Luís Estrada,” I founded a newspaper called “Optimism,” a small printed gazette on both sides by mimeograph.
Once graduated as a Bachelor of Law, I was placed at the “First Central Electronuclear of Cuba” Budgeted Investment Unit as a legal advisor in 1981. Although I did not finish my social service “due to ideological problems,” my time there allowed me to create the newspaper “Atomín,” another small printed gazette.
Then came my first poems and stories, which I shared in the literary workshop led by Juan René Cabrera and Florentino Morales, which met every Sunday afternoon at the municipal library. Some of these poems were published in literary bulletins in my hometown.
During my time in Guantánamo, I wrote film reviews in the newspaper “Venceremos” in the late eighties, and some of my texts were published in the tabloid “A Debate” and the magazine “El Mar y la Montaña.”
Between 2012 and April 2023, I wrote for the digital newspaper “Cubanet,” although during that period, I also sporadically collaborated with “Primavera Digital.” Unfortunately, I no longer write for Cubanet, but this has not diminished my desire to continue writing about the reality of our suffering Homeland and, in general, about other matters that interest me.
Path of Freedom
I want “Path of Freedom” to reflect my feelings and thoughts about our harsh reality, that of Cubans living in the homeland and that of those of us living abroad. I hope to achieve that.
The challenge before me is immense, not only because of my digital illiteracy but also because of the time this new project will demand of me.
I intend for “Path of Freedom” to be an inclusive space for the exchange of ideas and opinions, but above all, it should never stray from Martí’s principle that the Homeland must be made “with all and for the good of all.” In that sense, I will welcome contributions from my friends and from any Cuban who believes they have something to say for the good of the Homeland.
May God bless this project and help me be a better man every day, because ultimately, that is the most transcendent action. That is my deepest longing.
Roberto de Jesús Quiñones Haces
Harrisonburg, VA, USA, June 20, 2023.