Manuel Couceiro Prado
1923-1981

A painter, he was a founder of the Grupo Antillano (1978-1983), a goup of Cuban artists who were trying to establish the African and Caribbean context of Cuban national identity. His forebears were from Galicia, a celtic part of Spain. He was radicalized against Batista in 1952 and was a founding member of the July 26th Mouvement. Among many other activities, he was the editor of Vanguardia Obrera, newspaper of the Sección Obrera of M-26-7. He was arrested and tortured, so he lost his fingernails and the hearing in one ear. He was saved from execution only because of an international campaigned led by his friends among the French surrealists.

En julio de 1978 funda el Grupo Antillano, que lo asume junto a Roberto Diago como antecedente singular, y en el que con seis artistas más, homenajean a Fernando Ortiz con una exposición colectiva el 13 de abril de 1979 en la Biblioteca Nacional José Martí. Tras el ingreso en el hospital Calixto García (finalmente en el de Boyeros) había quedado con sólo un brazo útil, con el que siguió pintando una pieza que el Grupo Antillano mostró en la Biblioteca Elvira Cape de Santiago de Cuba del 15 al 18 de abril de 1982, en el Salón de Exposiciones de la UNEAC; -- Manolito Couceiro: arte y patrimonio, Cubarte, 9/26/08