If there is a journalist known throughout the country, it is Miozotis Fabelo Pinares. Many are unable to put a face to her voice, but thanks to the magic of radio, there are always those who manage to imagine her, to feel her close to them.

That is why, when she walks through the streets or visits a factory or cultural space, there is no shortage of people who are surprised to see her so slim and dressed with a bag that seems to weigh more than she does, recorder in hand. She is Radio Rebelde’s correspondent in this province, a woman whom generations of journalists have become accustomed to seeing always active, cigarette or cup of coffee in hand, ready to write or give advice with humility.

Fame was far from her desires because, as she points out, this profession is a service, a commitment to others. That is why it was so hard for her to accept an interview on the occasion of her becoming the fourth journalist in the country to receive the Honorary Title of Hero of Labour.

Professional friendship won out, and we tried to reconcile schedules for our conversation, until we understood that her days need more than 24 hours. Then it would take place via WhatsApp, with audios and notes sent many times in the early hours of the morning, when a half-written notebook kept her awake at night.

And that is how her days go. While the capital of Agramonte still sleeps, she wanders the streets to find the stories that she later tells on Radio Rebelde and Cadena Agramonte, her professional homes.

However, although she is classified as a woman radio broadcaster and no one imagines her in any other profession, she did not always want to be a journalist. When she finished pre-university, the only thing she knew for sure was that she wanted to study something related to literature, she confessed to me.

«My grandmother and my aunt, who raised me, instilled in me the habit of reading. Because of them, my first choice was Philology, but they gave it to someone else, and I kept the second degree I had applied for: Journalism.

«At first, I was a bit upset, but after my first internship at the Adelante newspaper in the province, I realised that I had found the right profession.

The University of Oriente was her professorship, and, as she recalls, she had an active student life there. ‘In teaching, I was a student assistant, I was also involved in sports and research,’ she said.

She graduated in 198,2 and to her surprise, she was placed at the provincial radio station. She received the news with regret, as she believed that her future lay in Adelante, where she did her pre-professional training. After a while, she realised that the change had been for the best: ‘I got the radio bug and there’s no antidote for that,’ she joked.

Not even the glamour of television would keep her off the dial. Miozotis was part of the team that made the first broadcast of Televisión Camagüey possible, on 24 June 1985. She remained there as long as she fulfilled her assigned task, but as soon as she could, she returned to the radio.

Since then, she can most often be found wandering the labyrinthine corridors of the radio station in Agramontina or locked up in a booth, editing a piece of work.

In his more than 40 years of work, he has written, spoken and analysed almost everything, he adds, «every day I look for something new, for other edges and approaches in order to motivate the listener. In journalism, there is always something different; we must think about what the population needs to know.

Guided by this maxim, she has created a body of work that has earned her such prestigious awards as the National Radio Award and the Award for Excellence in Journalism. However, she clarifies that she does not work with tributes in mind.

I simply try to ensure that each piece of material is of the highest possible quality,» she says.

‘I watch over the technical and artistic execution and the appropriate use of music, effects, sounds and even silence, which is a radio resource that also communicates’.

Thanks to this dedication, he has been able to create radio documentaries and reports with great skill. His goal: to tell stories that capture and hold the listeners’ interest.

To say Miozotis, as the most experienced say, is to speak of quality and prestige, of simplicity and a revolutionary woman. Rather than meetings and reports, she prefers to listen to the people, to sit down and talk to the humblest of workers.

Her obsession is with the new generations, whom she tries to train, as she learned from José Martí.

All this without neglecting other responsibilities: since 2008, he has been a member of the national committee of the Union of Cuban Journalists, for several terms he has been vice-president of the journalistic organisation in the province and was a member of the national committee of the Cuban Workers’ Central.

To name Miozotis Fabelo is to say Radio Rebelde. After so many years, what does the Revolution’s radio station mean to you?

«A commitment that never ends. It is to follow in the footsteps of those who marked that history, to try to keep their tradition alive. It is to follow the ideas of Che and Fidel. Radio Rebelde is a legacy, a path full of history that is followed out of conviction. Keeping that tradition alive is a challenge and a great responsibility.

But it is striking that he has always insisted on collaborating with Radio Cadena Agramonte, which he also mentioned among his thanks when he received the Honorary Title of Hero…

«Cadena Agramonte is my other home, the school where I learned to take my first steps, and that is something you never forget. Most of my life has been spent in these studios and with the people I meet here, I have a relationship of affection that goes beyond any job responsibility».

For years, journalism was seen as a profession for men, excluding women or limiting them to ‘gender-related’ subjects. Can that reality be considered to have been overcome?

«I think so. For some time now, women, empowered by the Revolution, have also occupied these trenches, and not only to talk about “women’s issues”. There are plenty of examples of established journalists who are masters in the newsroom or reporting. It is also positive that in the classroom, the majority of our students are girls.

Traditionally, the honorary title of Hero and Heroine of Labour has been awarded to people directly involved in production. What does the journalist produce?

«In truth, journalists do not produce material goods, but they inform, educate, mobilise, raise awareness, defend ideas… These are fundamental “goods” in these times of so much self-interested disinformation. When I go out on the streets, I do so thinking about how to better show people our reality, with its lights and shadows. There is a lot of dedication to others in the work of the journalist. We are not protagonists, but public servants.