Zoila Nieves Molina Pupo has always been passionate about books. As a child, she remembers being spellbound by stories, so it is no surprise that she grew up to become a librarian. But that wasn't enough to nourish her spirituality; she had to share what she had learned from the treasures of paper with others. The Tecla del Duende gathering would be the long-awaited oasis, and now 18 years have passed...

She says that this initiative was born in 2001 thanks to journalist Guillermo Cabrera Álvarez, who created the section in the national newspaper Juventud Rebelde. It was previously called Tecla Ocurrente, but when the father of the proposal died, it became a kind of “duende” (spirit) for its followers and changed the name of the space, becoming a gathering throughout the country.

Thus, on October 27, 2007, at the headquarters of the Union of Cuban Journalists (UPEC in Spanish) in Las Tunas, this meeting took place, and since then, Zoila Nieves has been at the helm of the group.

"It was a dream come true. It started with 21 people, most of them journalists or students in training. In 18 years, others from various professions have joined, including housewives... Some months we meet with 20 people, but others we exceed 50. We are always open to anyone who wants to join," she says.

Molina Pupo also highlights the sisterhood that unites the collective throughout the country, as several times they have even helped each other with personal problems. She treasures, for example, when she took her son to a hospital in Havana and received support from many “tecleros.” “It's a big family. Perhaps not even Guillermo imagined its reach. He has not been physically with us for 18 years, but his work and spirit remain,” says Nieves, whose human warmth has nothing to do with her name.

“We share dreams and desires, we have cultural moments, we organize contests, we invite personalities... Anyone who wants to join can do so; here they will find friendship, art, recreation, values...,” she says.

On the third Saturday of every month, at 3:00 p.m., at the Nicolás Guillén Foundation headquarters in Las Tunas (Huellas Cultural Center), the Balcón members gather... to share poetry, quotes, songs, and much more. It is simply a space where good souls, thirsty for culture and spirituality, embrace each other. Guillermo once said, “I walk attentively through life, and things strike my sensibility.”

Let us be like him, who turned a weekly column in Juventud Rebelde into a sociocultural phenomenon that continues even beyond death.