If someone were to ask now about Rosalía Lourdes Elisa Palet Bonavia (New York, February 11, 1923 - Miami, June 10, 2020) it’s likely that few would know, but it’s enough to say Rosita for the applause and reverence to fill all the spaces.

This great figure, with her multifaceted and very professional work, won respect and admiration since she began her artistic career at the Supreme Court of Art at age 15.

She has not stopped since then until she became, on her own merit, queen of the Cuban stage and many other latitudes, venturing into musical theater, zarzuela, operetta, cabaret, singing; in film and television.

She proudly told singer-songwriter Amaury Pérez on the popular television show Con dos que se quieran:

“I have traveled almost the entire world, at least a large part of it, and I always go as a Cuban artist. (…) I am a Cuban artist, even though I was not born in Cuba. Because this is where I grew up and this is where I was trained.

The tears and flowers of the thousands of Cubans who came that June less than five years ago to pay tribute to her at the funeral procession, from the Martí theater to the Colón Cemetery, confirmed it.

The then president of UNEAC, Miguel Barnet, summed it up during the farewell with a strong phrase: “She was nothing other than a people dressed in light.”

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / Cubasi Translation Staff