The Club Tropicana is Cuba at its most joyful. The colors of the tropics and Afro-Cuban rhythms have intermingled for seven dec...
Read this CubaPLUS article
The year 2010 could not have begun better for Cuban culture, as world renowned jazz figures, led by famed Cuban flutist Orlando...
Read this CubaPLUS article
Habanos Festival:
February 22nd to 26th. Havana Convention Palace.
12th International Meeting... Read this CubaPLUS article
A Famous Cuban Cartoon
Elpidio Valdés first appeared dressed as a Mambí* colonel leading a cavalry troop fighting for the freedom of his country against the Spanish enemy. He was created thus by Juan Padrón, a successful cartoonist who gave Elpidio the last name Valdés after the famous Cecilia**, symbol of the Cuban spirit. Later he even found Elpidio a girlfriend, but she was not conceived by his rich imagination, as he tells us:
“The impact of the movies was so impressive that I decided to listen to what children had to say. Little girls wanted a woman next to Elpidio, and they even found her a name: Maria Silvia. But the boys complained: ‘Don’t put women in there! They are always falling down and needing to be rescued!’ Maria Silvia was born, a brave mambisa who rides and fights alongside Elpidio. She doesn’t fall down and she doesn’t need to be rescued. And so the Cuban children and I created the characters.”
Elpidio Valdés first appeared dressed as a Mambí* colonel leading a cavalry troop fighting for the freedom of his country against the Spanish enemy. He was created thus by Juan Padrón, a successful cartoonist who gave Elpidio the last name Valdés after the famous Cecilia**, symbol of the Cuban spirit. Later he even found Elpidio a girlfriend, but she was not conceived by his rich imagination, as he tells us:
“The impact of the movies was so impressive that I decided to listen to what children had to say. Little girls wanted a woman next to Elpidio, and they even found her a name: Maria Silvia. But the boys complained: ‘Don’t put women in there! They are always falling down and needing to be rescued!’ Maria Silvia was born, a brave mambisa who rides and fights alongside Elpidio. She doesn’t fall down and she doesn’t need to be rescued. And so the Cuban children and I created the characters.”
