Dulce María Loynaz’s Defiance: How the Cuban Poetess Confronted Authority

The Cuban-Mexican scholar, Alejandro González Acosta, revealed intriguing insights into the 1992 Cervantes Prize awarded to Dulce María Loynaz during an interview with CiberCuba. As shared on Tania Costa's show, the nomination that ultimately won didn't originate from Cuba but from Mexico, thanks to a series of fortunate events in which González Acosta played a pivotal role. He also recounted an anecdote that paints the poet as a formidable woman.

Describing Loynaz, whom he knew closely, González Acosta portrayed her as someone quite contrary to her sweet-sounding name. "She was not 'Dulce'. To begin with, the name (her real name was Mercedes) didn't suit her; she was strong and unyielding," he recounted.

A Bold Encounter at the Palace

González Acosta recalled accompanying Loynaz to receive a cultural medal at the Palace of the Revolution. Dressed in black, wearing a Balenciaga gown and carrying a Louis Vuitton handbag, Loynaz was confronted by a guard who attempted to inspect her purse. Unfazed, she responded to the officer, "My son, I'm the daughter of a mambí general, and in my family, if I wanted to kill your prime minister—because she never referred to him as president—we use machetes, not guns."

At that moment, González Acosta feared for his own safety, thinking, "I'm the one who's going to end up arrested." However, after this bold retort, they allowed her to pass without further inspection.

An Unlikely Nomination from Mexico

"The Cervantes Prize nomination for Dulce María Loynaz wasn't from Cuba; it was from Mexico," emphasized González Acosta, a researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and a member of the Cuban Academy of Language since 1983.

According to him, he proposed Loynaz for the award on three occasions within the Academy. Loynaz herself acknowledged his efforts with a memorable remark: "Thanks, but note that the other colleagues didn't take the initiative."

Ultimately, the official nomination emerged outside the island. González Acosta, alongside Gonzalo Celorio—then the cultural dissemination coordinator at UNAM and a recent Cervantes Prize recipient in 2025—compiled a brief anthology of Loynaz's poems, including "La Novia de Lázaro," "La Mujer Estéril," and "La Carta de Amor a Tutankamón."

Support from Eulalio Ferrer

During a visit to Cuba, González Acosta presented a copy to the Hispano-Mexican patron Eulalio Ferrer, founder of the Cervantina Foundation of Mexico, who became enamored with Loynaz's work. Ferrer traveled to Cuba specifically to meet her and upon returning decided, "This woman deserves the Cervantes Prize."

The patron then contacted Spanish diplomat Inocencio Arias, then director of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI), who played a crucial role in advancing the nomination.

González Acosta also refuted the official Cuban narrative, declaring, "That's a lie, Cuba's official proposal was Eliseo Diego," and not Guillermo Cabrera Infante, as was previously claimed.

The Legacy and Struggles of Loynaz

Loynaz's home in El Vedado, where the Cuban Academy of Language held monthly meetings and described by González Acosta as "the only independent institution" in Cuba, was later turned into a cultural center, although it now stands in disrepair.

During the Mariel exodus, neighbors from the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution attacked the poet's residence with stones and eggs. González Acosta claims he and Eusebio Leal went to protect her.

González Acosta delves deeper into this narrative in his book, "La Dama de América," published by Felipe Lázaro at Editorial Betania in Madrid, where he also captures Loynaz's literary reflections. She insisted on being called "poetess" and not "poet," encapsulating her artistic view: "The utility of poetry is its beauty, nothing more is needed. Poetry of commitments, no."

The 1992 Cervantes Prize awarded to Loynaz marked her as the second woman to receive it, after María Zambrano in 1988, and the only Latin American woman to earn it at that point. The official ceremony took place in 1993, presented by then King Juan Carlos I of Spain, at the University of Alcalá de Henares.