Reinaldo Arenas

Reinaldo Arenas (born July 16, 1943 in Holguín, Cuba, died December 7, 1990 in New York) was a homosexual Cuban poet, novelist, and playwright who spent most of his life fighting the Fidel Castro regime through his art.

Initially being in favor of the communist revolution in Cuba, he turned away from Castro in the 1960s and paid the price in being censored and harassed. In 1973, he was jailed, supposedly on the grounds of his homosexuality, and later forced to renounce his work.

During the 1970s, he made multiple attempts to flee Cuba, but failed. In 1980, he managed to esacape from the country when Castro allowed a mass exodus of homosexuals and other unwanted persons. Since his banned work was such a vocal representation of the social and political problems in postrevolutionary Cuba, Arenas was not allowed to leave by the government. But he changed his name to Arinas on his passport and was able to get out with this trick.

He moved to New York, but was diagnosed with AIDS in 1987. During this time he wrote his autobiography, Before Night Falls, which was on the New York Times list of the ten best books of the year 1993. Unfortunately, Arenas had already killed himself by taking an overdose of drugs and alcohol in 1990.