A tiny island located a few hundred miles off the coast of Florida, Cuba has been the epicentre for cigar and rum lovers from across the globe. Ask anyone with a fascination for rum or cigar and he/she would tell you that quest for smoking different cigars or drinking varied rums isn’t fulfilled unless one has his/her hands on a Cuban one! However, this is just a side of the coin - Cuba is home to the cha-cha-cha dance form which originated in the country and some of world’s greatest baseball players. Yet still, listing Cuban accomplishments and achievements wouldn’t be complete, until one mentions the triumphs and deeds of Cuban men who have though their revolutionary work played an instrumental role in shaping the country’s identity on the world platform.
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Serving as the Cuban prime minister from 1959 to 1976 and as president from 1976 to 2008, Fidel Castro was one of the most prominent Cuban leaders in the history. As the longest-reigning non-royal head of the 20th and 21st centuries, Castro was responsible for making Cuba a communist state.
Desi Arnaz was born wealthy but lost everything in the 1933 Cuban Revolution. He paired up with his first wife, Lucille Ball, in I Love Lucy, thus inventing the modern sitcom/syndicated show format, with live audiences. He owned a production company and was the bandleader of the Desi Arnaz Orchestra.
Widely considered one of the most athletic competitors ever in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Yoel Romero is often compared with the greats of the sport. A former freestyle wrestler, Romero earned Cuba a silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics.
José Fernández was a Cuban-American baseball player who played for the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball from 2013 to 2016. Renowned for his skills as a pitcher, José had four pitches in his armory: a four-seam fastball, a slurve, a changeup, and a sinker. He died at the age of 24 when a speedboat, which he was piloting, crashed.
Fulgencio Batista was the elected president of Cuba from 1940 to 1944. He formed the constitution of Cuba. He later became a dictator through a coup. He was finally ousted by Che Guevara at the Battle of Santa Clara, as part of Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement.
Actor and comedian, Jorge Garcia, is best known for his portrayal of Hugo "Hurley" Reyes in the TV series, Lost. An alumnus of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), he also studied acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse acting school. Besides acting in TV shows and films, he performs as a stand-up comedian as well.
Faizon Love is a Cuban-American comedian and actor known for playing important roles in films like Friday, Torque, and Couples Retreat. In 2014, he was caught up in a controversy when he made a series of contentious comments on Twitter pertaining to the sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby. In 2017, he was arrested after being accused of misdemeanor assault.
Miguel Díaz-Canel is a Cuban politician and the current president of Cuba. As president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel has made several international trips, visiting places like India, Azerbaijan, and Russia. He has also interacted with presidents and prime ministers of several countries. In 2018, he was honored with the prestigious Order of the Liberator by the government of Venezuela.
Son of Spanish immigrants, Jose Marti spent his childhood in a strife-torn Cuba and attended high school on financial aid. Marti’s poems, essays, and articles were laced with his patriotic vigor to free Cuba from the Spanish rule. He died battling on the field at Dos Ríos.
Cuban-American actor Georg Stanford Brown of The Rookies fame had worked as a janitor to pay for his drama school. He incidentally met his wife at the same school. He won an Emmy for his direction in Cagney & Lacey and was nominated for two more for Hill Street Blues.
Xavier Cugat was a Spanish musician and bandleader. He studied classical violin as a child and began working in silent films to support his family. He grew up to become a successful musician and played a leading role in the spread of Latin music. Besides music, he was also a cartoonist and a restaurateur. He was married five times.
Alberto Salazar is an American former long-distance runner who won the silver medal at the 1982 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Rome, Italy. After his retirement from the sport, Salazar served as the head coach for the Nike Oregon Project and received the 2013 IAAF Coaching Achievement Award in Monaco. He was later banned for doping and sexual offenses.
Be it Raul or Fidel Castro, current and former leader of the Communist party of Cuba or Jose Marti, a Cuban national hero and Latin American litterateur, novelist Leonardo Padura or composer Ernesto Lecuona, sporting legends Ivan Dominguez, Jose Raul Capablanca and Jose Mendez or actor Mario Ernesto Sanchez and painter Pedro Alvarez Castello – Cuban men have been playing the role of a protagonist on the world’s cultural, economic, political and social stage. Know more about their life and works through this follow-up.
