Cuban-born poet, playwright, and novelist whose best-known works include Pentagonia, Palace of White Skunks, and Before Night Falls.
He took courses in philosophy and literature at the Universidad de La Habana and subsequently began work at the Biblioteca Nacional Jose Marti.
He was imprisoned by the Cuban government in 1974 on grounds of ideological deviation. He fled to the United States in 1980.
He was openly gay and was diagnosed with AIDS in 1987. Suffering greatly from his illness, he killed himself in 1990, leaving behind a suicide note that called for political action and Cuban independence.
He was a contemporary of fellow Cuban author Pedro Gutierrez.
