Olga Portuondo: Forever in Love with History
Although Olga Zarina Portuondo Zuñiga was born in Cienfuegos, she has become the Historian of Santiago de Cuba City, with great dedication and devotion.
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When she was just a little girl, her family moved to the most Caribbean-like province on the island. She studied at the Eastern University (UO is the Spanish acronym). In 1967 she graduated in History and she was already an excellent historian. Olga Portuondo got her PhD in Historiographical Sciences at the University of Havana and she presently is a full lecturer at the History Department of the Social Sciences Faculty, UO, as well as a researcher at Cuba’s Sciences Academy.
Olga is characterized by her slow way of speaking, picturesque look, kind manners, middle height; she is a simple woman that takes firm steps while walking into archives, libraries and every useful source of information, always looking for any element that helps her enrich her historical research.
With over 50 years of experience in the research field, she has published such books as Cartas familiares. Francisco Estrada y Céspedes; El Imperio Chino; Nicolás Joseph de Ribera; El Egipto antiguo; Entre esclavos y libres de la Cuba colonial; La virgen del Cobre: símbolo de cubanía; Santiago de Cuba, desde su fundación hasta la Guerra de los Diez Años; El Cobre: santuario nacional; La catedral primada de Cuba; Viñetas criollas; Una derrota británica en Cuba; La saga de los Valiente; Un liberal cubano en la corte de Isabel II; Santiago de Cuba, los colonos franceses y el fomento cafetalero 1798-1809; Santiago de Cuba y la guerra hispano-cubano-americana; Lo que yo vi; Colegio Seminario San Basilio Magno and Misericordia, her most recent work.
Her articles have also been included on such national magazines as SIC, Caserón, Santiago, Revolución y Cultura, Bohemia, Del Caribe; some of which have been published in Venezuela, Spain, France and the United States. She’s a member of the editorial council of Casa del Caribe and a researcher.
A significant part of her career as a historian has been devoted to the study of the creation process in the Cuban nationality, and she has written a lot about this topic.
Olga Zarina Portuondo is a member of Cuba’s Writers and Artists League (UNEAC is the Spanish acronym), Cuba’s Historians League and an Honorable member of the Indigenous Culture Friends Club (CACI).
She has been given the Emilio Bacardí Eastern Award on Historical Essay (2004), National Award of Social and Humanistic Sciences (2010), Critic Award (2000), Frank País Order, National Culture Distinction, José María Heredia Plaque, Julio Le Riverend Distinction and Annual Award to the Scientific Merit.
When it comes to mentioning boldface names in terms of contemporary letters in Santiago,
Dr. Olga Portuondo comes to our mind because her work reflects part of our material, local and national heritage.
