1930. Roberto Fernández Retamar is born in the La Víbora neighborhood in Havana.

Poet, essayist, critic and teacher, he carried out important responsibilities in the country. He was Director of the Casa de las Américas Magazine, Director of the Center for Martian Studies and President of the Casa de las Américas. On one occasion he pointed out that he grew up among books and from a very young age he read José Martí, French poets and literature books in general.

He received his doctorate in Philosophy and Letters from the University of Havana in 1954. Between 1955 and 1956 he did postgraduate studies at the Universities of Paris and London. In 1981 in Cuba he was awarded a Doctorate in Philological Sciences. In 1986 he worked as a senior researcher at the University of San Marcos in Lima, Peru. He achieved the category of Doctor Honoris Causa at the universities of Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1989, Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1993, and the Central University of Las Villas, Cuba, in 2011

He was the author of several books of poems and also of essays. His poetry has been inspired by history, the Revolution, family, friends, friendship and other contemporary events. In his essays he has analyzed the man and the culture of America and of course many of his works and investigations have been directly related to the life and work of José Martí.

His death took place in Havana at the age of 89

on July 20, 2019.

2002. The Cuban singer Romana Elena Burguez González, “Elena Burke”, dies in Havana.

She was described as Señora Sentimiento, for her peculiar way of interpreting boleros and romantic songs, in addition to being considered one of the most emblematic voices of Cuban song. He turned out to be one of the most representative figures of the feeling movement, which emerged in the so-called Callejón de Hammel, in Havana, in the 1940s in the last century and marked a very intimate way of interpreting musical creations by romantic cut. She also knew how to highlight her great vocal skills by correctly interpreting other genres of Cuban popular music.

In 1950 she was part of the Las Mulatas de Fuego show that was presented in Mexico and Jamaica. Upon her return to Cuba, she joined Facundo Rivero's quartet, then Orlando de la Rosa's and finally Aida's, where she achieved great popularity together with other figures such as Omara Portuondo and Moraima Secada. In following years she decided to perform as a soloist.

Regarding Elena Burke, the notable Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez commented that she discovers with her voice what is inside her and that is why she leaves a mark wherever she goes and leaves a mark because her interpretations manage to impose the text, the melody and the music on the listener. the rhythm of the songs.

Her birth also took place in the Cuban capital in the Cerro neighborhood on February 28, 1928.