Galeano, who died at 74 after a long fight against lung cancer, never stopped defending Latin American culture and identity in his writing.
"We have lost one of the greatest in this continent, a charming human being, sharp and ingenious person," said Cuban writer Marilyn Bobes, who considers Galeano as the writer who best mirrored Latin American reality.
Bobes, a Casa de Las Americas literary award as Galeano also was, stressed the impressing ethic values of the Uruguayan author, who was a journalist and a close friend of Cuba.
Bobes said that Galeano was a man of the left, foreign to stereotypes and she stressed Galeano´s essay entitled "The Open Veins of Latin America" as a must-read work that speaks clearly about the reality of this continent. This work was given to US President Barack Obama by Bolivarian leader Hugo Chavez in 2009 during the 5th Summit of the Americas, held in Trinidad Tobago.
The Cuban writer is one of the most popular contemporary literature authors on the island. She won two Casa de Las Americas Literary awards for her books "Someone will have to Cry," and Winter Fever.
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