He was born in Havana on June 13, 1930. From the time he was a student at the University of Havana, he joined the Orthodox Youth, a youth organization of the Cuban People's Party. When the coup d'état occurred on March 10, 1952, as a member of the University Student Federation he signed a public denunciation and actively participated in the student agitation in defense of the respect for democratic principles. Years later he was one of the founders of the 26th of July Movement in Santiago de Cuba. He actively participated in the popular uprising of November 30, 1956 in that city. After the triumph of the Revolution he was appointed Minister of Education of Cuba, a position he held until 1965. He was also part of the national leadership of the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations and of the United Party of the Socialist Revolution of Cuba. He was elected member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and of its Political Bureau. He served as Minister of Culture from the constitution of that body in 1976 until 1997. Since 1998, when the Office of the Martiano Program was created, he was in the direction of that institution.

Orthodox Youth

In its official platform, the need for socialism after the conquest of national liberation was raised. During those years of brutal repression and unlimited corruption (1947 - 1952), the fundamental weight of the bloody struggles that were waged corresponded to orthodox and communists. And many of those who would play a decisive role in the 1950s would come out of the Orthodox Youth.