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Agustín Blázquez was an actor, documentary filmmaker, artist, and author whose work focused on post-revolutionary Cuban politics. Born in Cárdenas in 1944, he graduated from The Municipal Academy of Dramatic Arts in Havana in 1962 and left Cuba in 1965. He lived in Montreal, Paris, and Madrid before settling in the United States in 1967. He played roles in several ICAIC films in the 1960s and appeared in various television productions for Televisión Española from 1966 to 1967. He produced the documentary series "Covering Cuba" from 1995 to 2010. Blázquez's articles were compiled in the book "Cubriendo y descubriendo/Covering and Discovering" (Alexandria Library Inc., with Carlos Wotzkow, 2001); he translated the book "The Mafia of Havana: The Cuban Cosa Nostra" by Luis Grave de Peralta into Spanish as "La Mafia de la Habana: Nuestra Cosa Nostra" (AuthorHouse, 2001).

Eugenio Florit (1903-1999) was a well-known poet, essayist, lecturer, composer, diplomat, academic, actor, “man of three homelands,” and traveler. He was born October 15, 1903, in the northern section of Salamanca, Spain. He was the son of Don Ricardo Florit, a Spaniard, and Doña Mariá Sanchez de Fuentes, a Cuban. From the ages of two to six he grew up in Barcelona. Until the age of 15 he lived in Port-Bou, a city on the Mediterranean coast near France.

In 1918 Florit immigrated to Havana where he continued his studies, graduating from the University of Havana with a degree in civil and public law. In 1927 he began working for the Secretary of State and took on a role with the Revista de Avance, where he became known as a poet. He also worked as a radio personality and acted occasionally in theater troupes. In 1936, he met Juan R. Jimenez, who wrote the prologue to one of Florit’s most important books of verses, <a>Doble acento</a>, and with whom he maintained a friendship until Jimenez’s death.

In 1940 Florit went to work at the Cuban Consulate. He continued to live in New York until 1982, and it was the setting for almost all of his work as an essayist, literary critic, and translator. In 1945 after receiving a teaching position at Barnard College, he left his diplomatic post. He also taught at Columbia’s graduate school and at the intensive language school at Middlebury College in Vermont during the summer. There, he met poets such as Jorge Guillén, Pedro Salinas, and Luis Cernuda.

Florit was a collaborator on Repertorio Americano, Revista Avance, Lyceum, Revista Cubana, Origénes, and Revista Hispaníca Moderna, which he co-edited with Don Frederico Onis and Angel del Río until 1962, when he assumed total direction of the magazine. During the 1950s he traveled to Europe and Latin America, and his last trip to Cuba was in 1959.

He retired from his teaching position at Barnard in 1969, but continued living in New York and occupied himself with other obligations until moving to Miami in 1982. In 1991 he was one of the candidates for the Premio Cervantes, awarded by the North American Academy of Spanish Language. The same year he received the Premio Fray Luis de León from the University of Salamanca, and the Premio Mitre from the Hispanic Society of America in New York. Florit published his last work entitled Hasta luego in 1992. At the age of 96, Florit died on June 22, 1999. He was a mentor and guide for many generations and is considered among the greatest Hispanic-American poets.

Manuel Piedra Martel was a Cuban soldier, politican, diplomat, and writer. He fought in the Cuban War for Independence and obtained the rank of colonel in the Cuban Army. He later served in the House of Representatives of the new nation, as well as serving stints as the Cuban ambassador to Guatemala and China. Martel was also a writer and historian who composed memoirs and works of the contemporary history of Cuba.

Dra. Raquel Robés Massés and Ruth Robés de Rangel were Cuban educators in the pre-Revolutionary period. Ruth Robés de Rangel served as sub-director of the Cuban Department of Education in 1956.

Dra. Raquel Robés Massés was the librarian for the Lyceum y Lawn Tennis Club in Havana. She graduated from the School of Pedagogy at the University of Havana and from the two courses in librarianship offered by the Cuban Library Association. On March 24th, 1944, the Lyceum’s Children’s Library opened, where Raquel Robés also served as librarian. Ruth Robés presented commentary on Brave New World by A. Huxley at the Lyceum y Lawn Tennis Club on April 23, 1937, and published two Spanish-language learning books for children: “Había Una Vez” (1971) and “Había Una Vez, Segundo Libro” (1974). Starting in October 1941, she also worked with educator and writer Herminio Almendros to publish the children’s literature journal “Ronda,” which contained sections for children aimed at stimulating creativity and interest in learning. It circulated nationally through 1942. On November 28th, 1941, Ruth Robés spoke on Children's Day at Banda de la Casa de Beneficencia y Maternidad in Havana.

Raquel Fundora de Rodríguez Aragón (d. 2001) was a poet and a president of the Miami chapter of the Circle of Pan-American Culture. Founded in 1963 by Carlos M. Raggi, a Cuban professor, the Círculo de Cultura Panamericano (CCP) is an independent, non-profit cultural organization that includes educators, artists and writers who are dedicated to the study and promotion of Hispanic cultures under freedom and democracy.

Fundora also published several works of poetry. Her poems often reflect themes of nostalgia and longing for Cuba. Her books of poetry include: Nostalgia inconsolable (1973,) El canto del viento: Poemas (1983), Sendero de ensueños : Poesías (1990.)

In 1992, Fundora organized the XII Congreso Cultural de Verano of the Círculo de Cultura Panamericano (CCP) at the Koubek Memorial Center supported by Koubek Memorial Center, School of Continuing Studies at the University of Miami, and its directors Pablo Chao and Angel Pelfort. She was reported to say that the historic event "sirve para mantener la vigencia y continuidad de la cultura cubana en el exilio" (serves to maintain the relevancy and continuity of Cuban culture in exile).

She was married to exiled Cuban politician and lawyer Roberto Rodríguez de Aragón for 50 years and they had one daughter, Dra. Raquel Aurora Rodríguez Fundora.