Cuba’s President, Raúl Castro, removed from this post the Minister of Culture, Abel Prieto, and appointed him as advisor becasuse of his “experience” and “positive results” obtained during the 15 years he has been in charge of this Ministr, as it was informed last Tuesday on an official note.
Prieto, who had recently expressed his desire of leaving this post to take up his writing again, is an intellectual respected in Cuba mainly for his defense of 'spaces' for 'the alternative' even for artists critical of the Communist government.
'The Council of State (executive)', following Raúl Castro’s proposal, 'agreed to remove Abel Preito from his position as Minister of Culture and to promote the current Viceminister Rafael Bernal', was stated in the text published by local media.
It was highlighted that 'due to his experience and the positive results obtained while exercising his post', Prieto, who is now 61 years old and Cuba’s Minister of Culture since 1997, 'has been appointed Adviser to the President of Cuba'.
Graduate of Literature and Hispanic Literatures, short-story writer and essayist among his literary work can be highlighted the novel El vuelo del gato and the stories Los bitongos y los guapos, Noche de sábado and Confluencias.
Also stands out the anthology of the acclaimed Cuban writer José Lezama Lima (1910-1976), who was marginalized by censorship during the 70s and restored a few years ago.
During La Habana’s XXI International Book Fair that took place a few weeks ago, Prieto, who was President of the Cuban Writers and Artists Union and directed the publisher Editorial Letras Cubanas, launched his second novel Viajes de Miguel Luna.