Enrique Labrador Ruiz, Cuban journalist, novelist, essayist, short story writer, and poet, was born in Sagua la Grande, Cuba, on May 11, 1902. He was a member of the Academia Cubana de la Lengua and also of the Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española. Labrador Ruiz was a well-learned and traveled man who created his own style of writing novels, which he called gaseiforme. In 1933, he published his first novel in this style, El laberinto de sí mismo, which forms a trilogy with Cresival(1936) and Anteo (Novela gaseiforme) (1940). With his collection of short stories, El gallo en el espejo(1953), he established his cuentería cubiche style.
In 1976, Labrador Ruiz and his wife María (Cheché) were exiled from Cuba. After residing in Spain and Venezuela, they moved to and maintained their permanent residence in Miami, Florida. During his years of exile, Labrador Ruiz wrote for many literary journals and newspapers, including Réplica(Miami), El Diario de Caracas, and Linden Lane Magazine.
Enrique Labrador Ruiz received numerous awards and honors for his works of literature. In Cuba, Conejito Ulánwon the Hernández Catá Prize in 1946, and in 1950 his novel Sangre hambrientawon the Premio Nacional de Literatura. Some of his most important works are: El gallo en el espejo(1953), El pan de los muertos(1958), and his final work, Cartas a la carte (1991).
Enrique Labrador Ruiz died in Miami on November 10, 1991.
Raymond Labonte was an US Army Officer that was stationed in Cuba at the San Antonio de los Baños US Army Air Base during the 1940s. Passionate about land and sky photography, he captured scenes of Havana and its surroundings as well as daily life in the US Army Base.
