Cuban singer-songwriter Pablo Milanes dies at 79

By ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ
Associated Press

HAVANA (AP) — Grammy-winning Cuban balladeer Pablo Milanes has died in Spain at age 79. He helped found Cuba’s “nueva trova” movement and toured the world as a cultural ambassador for Fidel Castro’s revolution — though he also sometimes criticized policies he saw as too hardline. He was one of the most internationally famous Cuban singer-songwriters and recorded dozens of albums and hits like “Yolanda” and “I Love This Island” during a career that lasted more than five decades. Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz tweeted that Cuban culture “is in mourning for the death of Pablo Milanes,”