Lorenza Teresa Inocencia Casuso y Morín (better known as "Teté" Casuso; 10 August 1912 – 28 July 1994) was a prominent Cuban intellectual, who fought for democracy and freedom in Cuba. As a writer, she worked in various genres, including novel, theater, chronicle, poetry, as well as radio and cinematographic libretos. Her journalistic work appeared in several publications in Cuba, Mexico and the US. She also worked as a translator and drama teacher; and was an actress of stage and screen. Along with several other middle-class, educated women writer contemporaries -

Emilia Bernal Emilia Bernal Agüero (Nuevitas, 8 May 1882 – 1964) was a Cuban poet, who also cultivated other genres such as essay, translation and the autobiographical novel. Along with several other middle-class, educated women writer contemporaries -Lydia Ca ...

Lydia Cabrera Lydia Cabrera (May 20, 1899, in Havana, Cuba – September 19, 1991, in Miami, Florida) was a Cuban independent ethnographer. Cabrera was a Cuban writer and literary activist. She was an authority on Santería and other Afro-Cuban religions. Dur ...

, Ana Maria Simo, Hilda Perera Soto, and

Rita Geada Rita may refer to: People * Rita (given name) * Rita (Indian singer) (born 1984) * Rita (Israeli singer) (born 1962) * Rita (Japanese singer) * Eliza Humphreys (1850–1938), wrote under the pseudonym Rita Places * Djarrit, also known as Rita, ...

- Casuso left Cuba after the 1959 Revolution.

Biography

Lorenza Teresa Inocencia Casuso y Morín was born in

Madruga Madruga () is a municipality and town in the Mayabeque Province of Cuba. It is located in the eastern part of the province, between Matanzas and Güines. It was founded in 1803. Geography In 1940, the municipality was divided into the barrios of ...

, 10 August 1912. During her stay in Mexico in the 1940s, she appeared in a number of films as a supporting actress, including '' El tigre de Jalisco'' in 1947. She participated actively in the student struggles against the dictatorship of

Gerardo Machado Gerardo Machado y Morales (28 September 1869 – 29 March 1939) was a general of the Cuban War of Independence and President of Cuba from 1925 to 1933. Machado entered the presidency with widespread popularity and support from the major polit ...

and during Castro's exile in Mexico, helped in the preparation of the ''Granma'' expedition. She raised money for both arms and the ''Granma'' yacht that would take the revolutionaries back to Cuba. After the triumph of the revolution in 1959, she became

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

of Cuba in Mexico. Upon her return to Cuba, she was appointed by the Commander-in-chief as his Press Secretary and at the end of that year, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Alternate Representative to the United Nations, a position she held until her resignation and defection in October 1960. She spent hours waiting for Castro so that she could express her concerns at his increasing dictatorial style but they never met. Despite her defection,

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...

held her in high regard. In December 1967 he wrote that, "Although you are not included among the 12 comrades and brothers of our struggle, you will always, Teté, be remembered as if you had been". Casuso was married to Cuban writer

Pablo de la Torriente Brau Pablo de la Torriente Brau (San Juan de Puerto Rico, December 12, 1901 – Majadahonda, near Madrid, Spain, December 19, 1936) was a Cuban writer, journalist and soldier. He was a correspondent in Spain, writing for the Mexican newspaper ''El ...

, who was killed fighting for the Republican side in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

Selected works

* 1934: ''Versos míos de la libreta tuya'' * 1938: ''Panorama de México'' * 1944: ''Los Ausentes. México'' * 1951: ''Recuerdos de un viaje a Europa'' * 1961: ''Castro and Cuba'' * 1963: ''Cuba Y Castro''

Unpublished

* 1955: ''Utopía'' * 1955: ''Aprendiz de ángel'' * 1956: ''Bienvenida la vida''

References

Bibliography

* * * * She died in Miami, Florida, US, 28 July 1994. *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Casuso Morin, Teresa 1912 births 1994 deaths Writers from Havana Cuban film actresses Foreign ministers of Cuba Cuban dissidents Cuban women journalists Cuban women novelists 20th-century Cuban novelists Cuban journalists 20th-century Cuban poets Cuban women poets Cuban translators Permanent Representatives of Cuba to the United Nations Cuban women ambassadors Cuban women diplomats 20th-century Cuban women writers 20th-century translators 20th-century journalists Cuban expatriates in Mexico Ambassadors of Cuba to Mexico