Havana Times Loses One of its Writers
The Havana Times family just suffered the loss of one of its collaborators: Elio Delgado Legón. The journalist was buried this Monday, in the Pantheon of the Combatants of the Cuban Revolution in Havana’s Colón Cemetery, after a tough fight against cancer.
Elio joined the site a few years after it was founded. Of the many pro-government journalists who were invited to write about their experiences, ideas, projects and memories, Elio was the only one who had the courage to do so. He continued writing his diary for nearly a decade, despite the harsh comments he sometimes received from readers.
His diaries were controversial because he defended the government’s positions in a publication that the Communist party frowned upon and considered illegal. Sometimes he shared his more intimate side, allowing us to know stories of his youth in rural Santo Domingo, Villa Clara, before 1959.
He lived until he was 84 years old, a life full of experiences and with the affection of his beloved family and friends.
Sorry to hear of his loss.
Rest in Peace Elio. I have enjoyed reading your views of the situation in Cuba over the years.
R I P
Dear Elio, he will be missed by all regular readers of and contributors to HT. One never knew whether he read the responses to his contributions, for I cannot recall a single incidence of him offering defence. But the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of Cuba can have had few supporters who echoed their views with such accuracy. HT is to be complimented for publishing Elio’s writing, which because it was die-hard replication of the PCC, occasionally opened a crack into the warped thinking of the totalitarian state. I guess that in his absence, support for and defence of the Castro regime will continue to flow from the pens of Dan, Curt, dani, Nick et al, but they (one presumes) do not have the guidance which dear Elio obviously received.
RIP Elio! He will be sadly missed and was one of the very few who balanced the views expressed in this publication. Sadly, now HT has become very right wing and anti-Cuban government, just like extremist online publications like Babalu.
Rest in peace