Afrocubaweb’s Eugene Godfried Dies

By Bernie Dwyer, Radio Havana Cuba

HAVANA TIMES, April 2 — “You don’t find news sitting behind a desk”. These are the words that come to my mind when I hear the name of our dear, late colleague, Eugene Godfried (10/23/1952 – 3/29/2009). And that’s how he lived his life as a journalist. He was always out and about looking for news.

Every English speaking foreign dignitary that arrived in Havana was brought to Radio Havana Cuba’s studio to be interviewed by Eugene. In fact they didn’t have to be English speaking as Eugene could speak several languages fluently not least the native tongue of his own Caribbean island, Curacao.

He was known in all the embassies of the Caribbean countries in Havana and the invitations still arrive for Eugene to attend their national day celebrations. Such was his reach as a radio journalist that even though he moved on from Radio Havana several years ago, we still get telephone calls from all over the world looking for Godfried.

His is the name that invariably comes up wherever Radio Havana Cuba is mentioned.

His was the mellifluous voice that went out over the airwaves inviting listeners to tune in to his Caribbean Outlook Show with his seductive greeting “good evening, listening friends” as he introduced his guest of the day who could be a young student from Jamaica studying at the Latin American School of Medicine or the President of Trinidad and Tobago, all of whom he treated equally with his own unique mixture of respect and a healthy disregard for any signs of self-importance.

Godfried, who also managed his www.afrocubaweb.com web site, was a dynamic presence in the English Department of Radio Havana Cuba and as we grieve his departure from this world, we remember with love and affection the larger than life figure that filled our lives at Radio Havana Cuba.

We offer our sincere sympathies to his two beautiful daughters, Nohraya and Yomini who we know well from their visits to the radio station. The world is a lesser place without their father, Eugene Godfried.