14ymedio, Havana, 4 October 2021 — The Cuban writer and journalist Marta Rojas died this Sunday in Havana as a result of a heart attack, according to the Cubadebate portal. Winner of several national awards, author of more than a dozen books, and a staunch defender of the official line of the regime, she was born in Santiago de Cuba in May 1931 and later moved to Havana where she studied Journalism.
Shortly after graduating, when she was 23 years old, she witnessed the assault on the Moncada Barracks on July 26, 1953, about which she wrote several articles.
Rojas was working for the magazine Bohemia when the revolution led by Fidel Castro came to power in 1959. Later she collaborated with the newspaper Revolución until, in 1965, together with other journalists, she founded the State newspaper Granma. In the official gazette she was Chief of Information, war correspondent in South Vietnam and she also covered several of Fidel Castro’s trips.
Rojas won the José Martí National Journalism Prize in 1997 and the Alejo Carpentier Prize for novels in 2006. She was an associate professor at the Faculty of Social Communication at the University of Havana and published several books such as La Generación de Centenario, Eljudicial del Moncada and El que debe vivir. She also wrote some novels, including El columpio del Rey Spencer and Santa Lujuria..
Alejo Carpentier defined Marta Rojas as an: “Agile and talented writer, with a deep journalistic vocation, shrewd eyes, direct and precise style, the gift of showing many things in a few words.”
On its social networks the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (Uneac) lamented the death of the journalist and member of merit of the organization. “Deep pain at the loss of one of our most beloved intellectuals,” wrote Luis Morlote, president of Uneac. “Cuba mourns her departure (…) we will always remember her,” he added.
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