Book on Emilio Bacardi presented in Santiago de Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 23 (ACN) The book Emilio Bacardi Moreau. De apasionado humanismo, by historian Olga Portuondo, was presented today at the Elvira Cape Provincial Library, in this city, as part of the activities for the centenary of the physical disappearance of the famous patriot.

Maria Teresa Fleitas, art historian, said that the two volumes of the text constitute a detailed biographical study of the intellectual, and delves into his political, cultural and industrial work.

She said that it gathers the selection and transcription of the correspondence with relatives, friends and part of the Cuban and foreign intellectuals of the time, and also documents the trips he made to different parts of the world.

According to her, the material explains the work of the promoter in favor of beautifying historical sites and preserving the historical memory through the inauguration of monuments to heroes and martyrs, as well as the efforts to bring a mummy, which is in the museum founded by him.

For her part, Olga Portuondo affirmed that four years of patient research in the Cuban, Spanish and American archives were spent with the objective of making the book a reality and contributing to settle a debt of the people of Santiago with the man who was the first mayor of the city.

She recognized as an editorial success the insertion in the volume of an iconography made up of almost a hundred photographs that illustrate aspects related to Bacardi's life and the historical and cultural context.

Portuondo holds the national awards for History, Research and Social Sciences and has an extensive published work, including Una derrota británica en Cuba, José Antonio Saco: eternamente polémico, Cuba. Constitution and liberalism and The virgin of the Charity of Cobre; symbol of the Cubanship.