Interview with Germán Pinelli Jr.

An icon of Cuban history

What follows is a summary of the interview conducted in Havana in January 2010 by Edmundo García with the older son of the well-known Germán Pinelli — musician, actor, journalist and probably Cuba’s most famous television and radio show host. It will be broadcast soon in its entirety in “La Tarde se Mueve.”

Edmundo García (EG): What was the impact on Pinelli of a process like the Cuban Revolution, considering his life in the major communications media, as a leading figure in the private media of television and radio?

Germán Pinelli Jr.: Before the revolution, Father had been totally disillusioned with politics. He had dealt with the great politicians of his era, with the presidents and ministers he interviewed. He was disillusioned with that Republic, although, like any sensible man, he had hopes for a better Cuba, but not in the sense of political militancy. Still, he was friendly with some people he appreciated a lot, such as Eduardo Chibás, for instance. And there were other politicians he always described to me as honest people.

EG: Was he ever a rich man?

GPJr.: Never was.

EG: But he led a very comfortable life.

GPJr.: He led a comfortable life but wasn’t a rich individual. He could have been, because he was offered many deals that he could simply endorse, generally murky deals, which were most often put before him. One time, a leading government official offered him an importing firm with his name, but Dad new that that company operated out of the Columbia military airport with military aircraft that flew to Key West and Miami and smuggled back domestic appliances.

EG: How did Germán Pinelli react to [Batista’s] coup d’état on March 10, 1952?

GPJr.: Like most other Cubans, he totally rejected it. Many thought that it was a change in management, that it was another government just like the previous ones. Dad thought that the coup was not much different from an election won by the next politician in line, except that the coup always leads to a breakup of the Constitution, to a breakup of legality. When the Revolution triumphed, Dad changed. I can tell you that Dad was never a revolutionary militant, but he was an honest man who recognized that there was a possibility to save the nation.

EG: Germán could have left, though. Besides, Germán was offered a lot to leave.

GPJr.: Dad showed me letters asking him to leave. “Write down your salary,” they said, “you have a blank check.” When I asked him, he told me: “I cannot betray the trust placed on me,” because he was a man of principle. The trust was placed on him when he went to Spain to receive the Ondas Award. At CMQ, people were betting whether he’d stay abroad or not, but he said that he couldn’t betray others’ trust. “If I wanted to leave, I would say so to the entire world,” he said.

EG: I had the huge privilege of meeting Germán and I owe him a lot in the start and formation of my career. How was Germán behind closed doors, rather, at home? Was he strict, was he sensitive?

GPJr.: Look, as to strict, he was as strict with his children as he was with you, when he counseled you and others. I saw that myself. Although I didn’t live with Dad, I visited him a lot. I was close to him. And in the last few years of his life, I went to live with him. He was strict, but he never said ‘Be like me,’ because Dad was not a vain man. He could arrive at a show, at a television program with an inexperienced director and ask him: “How do you want me to do this?” And that impressed the director, who would say: “Anyway you want, Pinelli.” But he’d answer: “No, you’re the director.” Dad was very disciplined in his work and always demanded a high standard of excellence from his children.

EG: Was he a solitary man?

GPJr.: Yes, despite his loves, despite his three marriages. He was a man with a great interior life. One of his greatest joys was being with his sister, Sol. Sol was also a fabulous character, much loved by the family, a very talented woman who left a deep impression in radio, so deep that we recently learned that the UNEAC [Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba] is going to create an international radio award that will carry the name of Sol Pinelli.

EG: Do you miss Germán?

GPJr.: I miss him, particularly because I live in the same house and remember Dad in the garden with his orchids. And with the books. I still have many of his books, because they constituted one of the greatest instructions Dad gave me. He used to give me books, and I would say “I don’t understand this.” “Don’t worry,” he’d say, “someday you will.”

EG: Then he was a man of solitude.

GPJr.: Yes, he was a man of solitude, with a great interior life, who was happy with a book, very happy with a book or a friend. He delighted in chatting. He was a great talker.

EG: Germán, it is a privilege to have shared this slice of the afternoon with you and the many listeners who grew up watching Germán Pinelli, who enjoyed themselves, who learned from Germán Pinelli, and feel that Germán Pinelli – regardless of any position, of any latitude where one lives, of any philosophy, ideology or creed – is an icon of the nation’s history.

GPJr.: I believe so. I believe that’s one of the things that unite all of us Cubans.

EG: Thank you, Germán, on behalf of the public, too.

*The interviewee is Germán Piniella (the family’s true surname), journalist, writer, and assistant editor of Progreso Semanal, the Spanish-language version of Progreso Weekly.