Poet and journalist, Manuel Vázquez Portal was born in Morón, Cuba, in 1951.
He graduated with a degree in Latin American and Cuban Language and Literature from the University of Santa Clara, Cuba. He has worked as a secondary school teacher and as a journalist for the state media in Cuba, where he has also served as literary advisor to the Ministry of Culture. He is the recipient of various awards, including one from the National Union of Cuban Writers and Artists (UNEAC); the so-called Golden Age, from the Ministry of Culture; and the April, from the publishing house of the same name.
Del pecho como una gota [From the Chest like a Drop], A mano abierta [Open Hand], Cantos iniciales [Original Songs], and Un día de Pablo y Cascabeles [A Day of Pablo and Bells] have all been published in Cuba; Celda número cero [Cell Number Zero], a collection of poetry, in the United States; and Cambio de celda [Change of Cell], in Italy.
In 1995, Vázquez joined the independent press agency CubaPress and later he went on to found the Decorum Work Group. In April 2003, the Provincial Court of the City of Havana sentenced him to 18 years in prison for freely practicing journalism, though he obtained medical parole in June 2004 thanks to an international campaign for his release undertaken by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). While in prison, he received the International Award for Freedom of Speech from the CPJ, and the Hellman-Hammett grant from Human Rights Watch.
Exiled in 2005, he currently works as a journalist for several Miami-based media and writes a weekly column in the Sunday edition of El Nuevo Herald.
|
|
