Carlos A. Aguilera: Cuban New (Maoist) Democracy and the yellow-bellied sparrow of Havana
– Cuba
Carlos A. Aguilera was born in 1970 in Havana. He lived with his mother in the El Cerro neighbourhood near the centre of the city. As a child, he did not particularly stand out, his family did not differ from most of the Cuban population in terms of their social and political stances; he joined Pioneer, and his mother worked as an accountant. In the 1970s, their life was significantly influenced not only by financial hardships, but also by constant power outages. These are the main things that he remembers when thinking about this period, which was difficult for nearly all Cubans. The lack of necessities was not unusual at that time. In his early childhood he already began to enter the world of literature and decided to become a writer. With several friends, he founded a literary group that later became one of the most important voices in contemporary Cuban literature – Grupo Diáspora(s).
Aguilera has published several books that met with considerable prise. In 2001, the German PEN Club offered him a scholarship. However, the Cuban authorities allowed him to leave not only under media pressure from the German PEN Club, but also from the mayor of Bonn, where he was to stay during the scholarship. He never returned to Cuba. After the success of his works, he received further scholarships in Germany, Austria, and finally in the Czech Republic, where he now lives with his Czech wife. He continues to write, and his books have been translated into many languages. He is also involved in the InCubadora project, which supports a network of independent libraries in Cuba.