October 11 was a sad day for Havana. In the lobby of the National Theater of Cuba, the curtain closed on the life of one of the most beloved actresses of the Cuban people. None of the attendees wanted to stop applauding. The replica of the Machete Mambí of Generalissimo Máximo Gómez, medals, floral offerings from Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, the First Secretary of the Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, and many other cultural institutions, accompanied the images that, one after another, recalled the mastery of Aurora Basnuevo.
The Cuban flag embraced the urn containing the remains of the Cuban vernacular mulatto, who died on September 26. She was 84.
Her art, very Cuban, remains in the popular imaginary, in the many radio and television programs in which she participated, in the cinema, in the tables, in the music, in her immense work.
The director of radio programs Caridad Martínez and the renowned actor Alden Knight, evoked this artist of Creole roots who earned forever a place among the greats of the Cuban scene with her popular and fine humor.
Her beloved public, friends, relatives and well-known figures of the national scene gathered to bid her farewell. Also present were Rogelio Polanco Fuentes, member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Party and head of its Ideological Department; Minister of Culture Alpidio Alonso and president of Unio of Cuban Artists and Writers (UNEAC) Luis Morlote, among others.
" I want her to be remembered as the great love of my life, as the top star, and the excellent Cuban and revolutionary she was," said Mario Limonta, her partner in life and in acting for more than six decades, who said he left the National Theater as if he was missing a "piece".
On one occasion, the Mulatísima said that, while working abroad, she missed the air of her land, and had to return to be able to breathe. This is how Havana felt yesterday when it said goodbye to her. Her legacy, her easy laughter and everlasting Cubanness remain as a permanent memory her people can always return to.
Translated by ESTI
