Guillen introduced
the theme of Blackness in Spanish-language poetry.    Photo: Archivo/RHC

Havana, July 10 (RHC)-- The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel evoked this Sunday the National Poet Nicolás Guillén (1902-1989), on the 120th anniversary of his birth.

Through his official Twitter account, the president recalled the writer's verses and assured that "his work is also Cuba."

"Knock!  Knock!   Who's there?  / The dove and the laurel... / Open the wall! /   "Knock!  Knock!   Who's there?  / The worm and the centipede...  / Close the wall!"  wrote the Cuban president.

Guillén was born in the central-eastern province of Camagüey on July 10, 1902.   His poetry is considered the fullest expression of the legitimate and revolutionary popular aspirations in the historical period in which it is produced.

The author introduced the theme of Blackness in the verses in Spanish language, in a work that has been translated into several languages and deserved praises and studies of personalities of the contemporary letters.

Among the titles of the National Prize of Literature (1983) are: Motivos de son, Elegía a Jesús Menéndez, Sóngoro cosongo and El son entero.

Guillén was among the founders of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, UNEAC, of which he was the first president.

In addition, he was awarded the José Martí Order in 1981, the highest order granted by Cuba to personalities.