Reinaldo Arenas, Cuban writer and dissident, was born on a day like today in 1943. To remember him today we bring you this selection of poems from his work, of which his autobiographical novel “Antes que anochezca,” stands out.

It was written while he was in prison and was made into a movie in the year 2000, staring Javier Bardem as Arenas. Arenas was born in Aguas Claras, to a humble and peasant family, and in his adolescence joined the revolution led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara.

His first and last novel published in Cuba when he was barely 19 years old, was titled “Celestino antes del alba.”  The rest of his work was published abroad. In the sixties he was a victim of the Cuban government's measures against homosexuals. But it was in the 1970s that he fled after being accused of sexual abuse and arrested, and shortly thereafter, arrested again and imprisoned in El Morro prison.

He tells everything in “Antes que anochezca.” But there were other works such as “El palacio de las blanquísimas mofetas,” “El central,” “Termina el desfile,” “Arturo,” “La Estrella más brillante,” and “El asalto”.

See the selection of poems here