In the second half of the twentieth century in Havana, a character who was simply identified as The Knight of Paris became famous.
Even the notable Cuban composer and musician Antonio Maria Romeu composed a danzon that became popular in which he said: "Look who's coming, the Knight of Paris."
Almost nobody knew his real name nor that he was not French.
It is possible that very few will be able to specify when he died, which happened
on July 11, 1985 in Havana
This "gentleman" was named Jose Maria Lopez Lledín. He was born on December 30, 1899 in the area of ​​Vilaseca, municipality of Fonsagrada, in the province of Lugo, Spain.
From there he came to Cuba in 1913, shortly before the First World War began, in order to work with a merchant uncle.
Looking for other horizons, he later came to work in the sphere of gastronomy and was even the captain of a restaurant.
It has been claimed that he was waiting in the Cuban capital for his offspring from Spain, when a cyclone shipwrecked the steam in which they were traveling.
It is assumed that upon hearing the news was so much pain that he felt mad and gave him then to wander through the streets of Havana wrapped in a black cloak as a sign of mourning, with his tousled curls and a thin beard, looking for a surviving family member when turning the corner.

He never practiced begging and he was grateful when someone with a charitable gesture offered him something.
He always treated the citizens who approached him with great respect and affection and did not even react violently when he was the object of mockery or abuse.
In December 1977, social workers managed to convince him that he had to finish his wanderings in the streets and he was admitted to the Psychiatric Hospital of Havana, where he received adequate medical attention until his death in the hospital of Santiago de las Vegas.
His remains were deposited in the cemetery of Calabazar, in Havana.
At present and for several years there is a significant sculpture of the Knight of Paris, prepared by the prestigious Cuban artist Jose Villa Soberon, in front of the entrance of the church of the former convent of San Francisco de Asís, in Old Havana.
Many of those who travel through this place, of course among them a large number of foreign tourists, even without knowing the history of that character, feel captivated and pose next to the sculpture to leave evidence through photos or videos of their interrelation with that singular gentleman, whose history is related to a stage of the one of Havana.