[NYTr] Cuban Writer Lisandro Otero, 76, Dies

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN)
http://ainch.ain.cu/mailman/listinfo/ingles


Cuban Writer Lisandro Otero Dead at 76

Havana, Jan 4 (acn) The President of the Cuban Language Academy, and 
national literature prize winner, Lisandro Otero, passed away in the 
evening of January 3, aged 76.

Otero's life was marked by a long and relevant career both as a writer 
and journalist. He was one of the founders of Cuba's Artists and 
Writers Union (UNEAC).

In 1963, he received the Casa de Las Americas Prize in the category of 
novel for his book La situacion (The Situation), which won him a place 
among the cultural elite of the time.

He was awarded the literary critic's prize in 1983 for Temporadas de
Angeles (Angels' Season) and in 1992 for Arbol de vida (Life Tree). His 
remarkable work as a journalist also won him the national cultural 
journalism prize.

Otero contributed to publications specially related with cultural 
matters in Cuba, France and Mexico, where he was also awarded with the 
national journalism decoration granted by the Mexican Journalists Club.

In addition, the Cuban writer acted as the cultural attaché of the 
Cuban embassy to Chile and Great Britain.

His latest works were mostly aimed at criticizing neo-liberal 
globalization and single thinking. His accurate analyses were published 
nearly on a daily basis by several alternative media groups throughout 
the world.

Otero's most recent article entitled 'What are anarchies good for?' is 
a harsh criticism of anarchy, which he called an evil that has lasted 
more than 100 years, making an analogy to a Cuban expression that says 
there is not an illness that lasts 100 years, nor a body that can 
resist it.