Amir Valle

Amir Valle Ojeda (born January 6, 1967), is a Cuban journalist, literary critic and writer. In the aftermath of his criticism of the Fidel Castro regime, he was prevented from returning to Cuba in 2006. He then decided to settle in Berlin, where he continued his professional activities.

Biography Amir Valle was born on January 6, 1967, in Guantánamo and spent his childhood in Santiago de Cuba. He entered the journalism faculty first in Santiago de Cuba and then in Havana. After graduating as a journalist, he participated for three years in the "social service" imposed by the Cuban authorities on young university graduates. In 1989 he began to work as a journalist and literary critic.

Valle's work describes the hidden social aspects of Cuba, hidden by government authorities. He notably acquired international recognition with his series of detective novels set in Havana. In his thrillers, detective Alain Bec discovers child trafficking in Las puertas de la noche or the world of drugs and prostitution in Si Cristo te desnuda. Amir Valle has also published several essays, including Jineteras (translated as Hookers - Havana Babylon), a study on prostitution in Cuba. His regular criticism of Fidel Castro's regime resulted in Valle being prevented from returning to Cuba in 2006 after a trip to Spain. Forced to stay in exile, he decided to settle in Berlin, Germany. He was sponsored by the international PEN club, an NGO that helps writers.

When Valle's family also did not receive permission for his 5-year-old son to move to Europe with his parents, Valle turned to Gabriel García Márquez and José Saramago, who were friends of Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro. A week later, the Cuban authorities issued the exit permit and Valle's son was able to leave Cuba in July 2006. That same summer, Castro referred to the disgraced writer Valle in a television program as "jineterologo" (creation of a derogatory word intended to designate a prostitute expert, something like "nutologist"). A year later, Valle's eldest son, who was 18 years old, was also able to leave Cuba.

In Berlin Valle continues his investigative journalism activities, he also works as a trainer, consultant, "advisor and political analyst at the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Deutsche Welle News Agency", Germany's international broadcasting service. Amir Valle creates and directs the Latin American cultural magazine OtroLunes - Revista Hispanoamericana de Cultura.

Awards 2007 Rodolfo Walsh Prize for the best non-fiction work in the Spanish language for Jineteras (Spain, 2006), reissued in 2008 under the title Habana Babilonia. La cara oculta de las jineteras. NOVELPOL 2006 award for best Spanish thriller and 2008 Carmona crime novel award for Santuario de sombras published in 2006. Prize for the novel Vargas Llosa 2006 for the novel Las palabras y los muertos.