María Alvarez Ríos

María Alvarez Ríos 1919-2010

I met María in 2005 on my first trip to Cuba. She was the adoptive mother of my friend, Nora García Pérez, the President of Aniplant. Nora and María lived together with their 13 dogs in a 10th floor apartment in Vedado with a view halfway back to Florida. On that first encounter we all sat in her living room, petting the dogs, and Nora introduced us to her famous mother. María impressed us from the beginning with her perfect English, and we found out she spoke five languages fluently. It didn't take long to get her to sit at the piano and play and sing several songs for us.

María was a nationally known entertainer in Cuba, much as Rosemary Clooney was in the US. She was the beneficiary of a formal musical education which only polished her prodigy, evident since she was five years old. In her long career she was singer, songwriter, and author. She translated several European operas into Spanish from their original languages, and to some, she was their music teacher. To children in Cuba, she was a bright, happy writer and performer of children's songs. She composed songs for José Martí's poems and for those of other famous poets. When I met her, she was in her late eighties, but her classic beauty was still quite evident.

María and her husband adopted Nora after Nora lost her parents when she was in her teens. These two women shared an intense love for animals, and the well-traveled María took Nora with her to the US and Europe. They attended animal protection conferences and built up the knowledge of the field. Finally with their participation, Aniplant, Cuba's only officially recognized animal protection organization, was formed in the 1970's. A few years later, Nora became Aniplant's President.

I found a few videos of María on the Internet (a link can be found on our website: http://theaniplantproject.org). In those videos, her lovable dogs play an entertaining part.

Cubans are grateful for her musical talent, and those of us who work for animals are so happy she always spoke out for the animals.

María, we loved you for your music and your ethic towards animals. We'll miss you, but we're glad we had you for as long as we did.

Les Inglis