List of Cubans

This is a list of notable Cubans, ordered alphabetically by first name within each category.

For Cuban-Americans please see List of Cuban Americans

• Agustín Cárdenas (1927–2001), sculptor
• Alberto Korda (1928–2001), photographer
• Alexandre Arrechea (born 1970), painter, sculptor
• Amelia Peláez (1896–1968), painter
• Baruj Salinas (1935–2024), painter
• Carlos Enríquez (1900–1957), painter
• Fidelio Ponce de León (1895–1949), painter
• Herman Puig (born German Puig Paredes, 1928–2021), photographer
• Humberto Jesús Castro García (born 1957), painter
• José Bernal (1925–2010), painter
• José Vilalta Saavedra (1865–1912), sculptor
• Josignacio (born 1963), creator of plastic paint medium, contemporary painter
• Juan José Sicre (1898–1974), sculptor
• Juan T. Vázquez Martín (1940–2017), painter
• Lourdes Gomez Franca (1933–2017), painter
• Luis Castaneda (1945–2022), photographer
• Mario Perez (born 1943), painter
• Miguel Fleitas (born 1956), painter, photographer
• Miguel Rodez (born 1956), painter, sculptor
• Pedro Álvarez Castelló (1967–2004), painter
• Rafael Consuegra (1941–2021), sculptor
• Raúl Corrales (1925–2006), photographer
• Raúl Martínez (1927–1995), pop artist, painter
• Rene Mederos (1933–1996), poster artist and graphic designer
• René Portocarrero (1912–1985), painter
• Tomas Sanchez (born 1948), painter
• Victor Manuel (born 1947), painter
• Waldo Diaz-Balart (1931–2025), painter
• Wifredo Lam (1902–1982), painter

• Alejo Carpentier (1904–1980),^[1] novelist
• Antonio Benitez-Rojo (1931–2005), author
• Brígida Agüero (1837–1866), poet
• Daína Chaviano (born 1957), author
• Carilda Oliver Labra (1922–2018), poet
• Domitila García de Coronado (1847–1938), writer and journalist
• Dulce María Loynaz (1902–1997), author
• Edmundo Desnoes (1930–2023), author
• Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda (1814–1873), author, poet
• Guillermo Cabrera Infante (1929–2005),^[1] author
• Heberto Padilla (1932–2000), poet
• Héctor Zumbado (1932–2016), writer, journalist, humorist, critic
• José Ignacio Rivero (1920–2011), author and journalist
• Antonio Rodríguez Salvador (born 1960), poet, author
• José Lezama Lima (1910–1976),^[1] author, poet
• Mary Stanley Low (1912–2007), British-Cuban political activist, surrealist poet, artist and Latin teacher
• José María Heredia y Campuzano (1803–1839), poet
• José Martí (1853–1895), author, poet, journalist
• David Masnata y de Quesada (1926–1988), author and historian
• Julián del Casal (1863–1893), 19th-century poet
• Leonardo Padura Fuentes (born 1955), novelist, journalist
• Mariano Brull (1891–1956), author
• Nancy Morejón (born 1944), author
• José Gómez-Sicre (1916–1991), art critic and author
• Nicolás Guillén (1902–1989),^[1] poet
• Norberto Fuentes (born 1943), author
• Pedro Juan Gutiérrez (born 1950), author, poet, painter
• Pedro Luis Boitel (1931–1972), poet
• Raúl Rivero (1945–2021), poet and journalist
• Reinaldo Arenas (1943–1990),^[1] author
• Severo Sarduy (1937–1993),^[1] poet
• Virgilio Piñera (1912–1979), author, playwright, poet, short-story writer and essayist
• Zoé Valdés (born 1959), author
• Cirilo Villaverde (1812–1894)

• Alejandro García Caturla (1906–1940), symphonic composer
• Mariá Álvarez Rios (1919–2010), composer
• Aurelio de la Vega (1925–2022), composer, lecturer, essayist and poet
• Antonio María Romeu (1876–1955), composer
• Arsenio Rodríguez (1911–1970), developer of the rumba
• Didier Hernández (born 1979), singer, composer; former member of Menudo and MDO
• Ernesto Lecuona (1896–1963), often regarded as the greatest Cuban composer
• Esteban Salas y Castro (1725–1803), 18th century Cuban baroque composer
• Gonzalo Roig (1890–1970), often regarded as one of the greatest composers of Cuba, "Quiere me mucho"/ Cecilia Valdez
• Ignacio Cervantes (1847–1905), Chopinesque piano composer
• José White Lafitte (1836–1918), violinist and composer
• Leo Brouwer (born 1939), guitarist and composer
• Yalil Guerra (born 1973), composer
• Amadeo Roldán (1900–1939), composer and violinist
• Dámaso Pérez Prado (1916–1989), developer of the mambo
• Armando Rodriguez-Gonzalez (1889–1965), composer
• Antonio Rodríguez Ferrer (1864–1935), composer
• René Touzet (1916–2003), composer, bandleader and pianist
• Flores Chaviano, guitarist and composer
• Danilo Avilés, composer
• Magaly Ruiz, composer
• José Ardévol (1911–1981), composer
• Harold Gramatges (1918–2008), composer
• Carlos Fariñas (1934–2002), composer
• Roberto Valera, composer
• Julián Orbón (1925–1991), composer
• Margarita Lecuona (1910–1981), singer and composer

• José Raúl Capablanca (1888–1942), chess world champion, grandmaster considered "the Mozart of Chess"
• Juan Corzo (1873–1941), chess
• Lázaro Bruzón (born 1982), chess grandmaster
• María Teresa Mora (1902–1980)

• Ernesto Daranas
• Fernando Pérez
• Humberto Padrón
• Jorge Luis Sánchez
• Juan Carlos Cremata
• Juan Padrón
• Miguel Coyula
• Rodrigo García
• Santiago Álvarez
• Tomás Gutiérrez Alea

• Calixto Martínez
• German Pinelli
• Héctor Zumbado, writer, journalist, humorist, and critic
• Idania Martínez Grandales, broadcaster, journalist and academic, and professor
• Nicolás Guillén
• Oscar Espinosa Chepe
• Pablo de la Torriente Brau
• Raúl Rivero
• Rick Sanchez

• Alicia Alonso, Prima Ballerina Assoluta, director of the Cuban National Ballet (Ballet Nacional de Cuba)
• Carlos Acosta, dancer
• Sadaise Arencibia, star dancer with the Cuban National Ballet
• Fernando Bujones, dancer
• Jose Manuel Carreño, American Ballet Theatre principal dancer
• Lydia Diaz Cruz, prima ballerina
• Miguel Campaneria, ballet dancer, currently artistic director of the National Ballet Theater of Puerto Rico
• Vida Guerra, video dancer
• Yat-Sen Chang, principal dancer, English National Ballet

• Alvarez Guedes, comedian and author
• Ana María Polo, television personality and lawyer
• Alina María Hernández, "Cachita", television personality
• Cristina Saralegui, magazine editor, talk show host (Cristina) and actress
• Vida Guerra, model/actress
• Lili Estefan, television personality and former model
• Mauricio Zeilic, television personality
• Mayra Verónica, model
• Nelson Ascencio, comedian (Madtv)
• Pedro Zamora, AIDS activist, featured on The Real World: San Francisco
• Raúl De Molina, television personality
• Raúl Musibay, Food Network chef and author
• Rosaura Andreu, children's television entertainer

• Adolfo Horta, featherweight Olympic boxer
• Ariel Hernández, Middleweight Olympic boxer
• Armando Martínez, light middle-weight Olympic boxer
• Benny Paret, boxer
• Eliseo Castillo, boxer
• Félix Savón, Olympic boxer
• Florentino Fernández, boxer
• Guillermo Rigondeaux Ortiz, amateur boxer
• Joel Casamayor, boxer
• Jorge Rubio, boxing trainer
• José Nápoles, boxer
• Kid Charol, boxer
• Kid Chocolate, boxer
• Kid Gavilán, boxer
• Lorenzo Aragon Armenteros, Olympic welterweight boxer
• Luis Manuel Rodríguez, boxer
• Mario César Kindelán Mesa, Olympic gold medal-winning boxer
• Raúl González, boxer
• Roberto Balado, Olympic super heavyweight boxer
• Sugar Ramos, world champion boxer
• Teófilo Stevenson, amateur boxer
• Yan Bartelemí, light flyweight gold medal-winning boxer
• Yanqui Díaz, boxer
• Yudel Johnson Cedeno light-welterweight Olympic boxer
• Yuriorkis Gamboa, flyweight Olympic gold medal-winning boxer

• Joel Armas, record holder in the US in monofin swimming
• Neisser Bent, bronze medalist at the 1996 Summer Olympics
• Rodolfo Falcón, silver medalist at the 1996 Summer Olympics
• Leonel "Bebito" Smith, gold medalist in the 1926 and 1930 Central American and Caribbean Games

• Wilfredo Leon
• Osmany Juantorena
• Yoandry Leal
• Robertlandy Simon
• Diego Lapera
• Leonel Marshall
• Leonel Marshall Jr
• Joel Despaigne
• Raul Diago
• Alfredo Figueredo
• Alain Roca
• Melissa Vargas
• Regla Torres
• Magaly Carvajal
• Mireya Luis
• Ana Fernández

• Deborah Andollo, holds world records in free diving
• Alberto Delgado, soccer
• Ivan Dominguez, two time gold medalist in the Pan American Games and Cuban national champion in cycling
• Héctor Socorro, footballer
• Ibrahim Rojas, flatwater canoer
• Juan Tuñas, former Cuban footballer
• Manrique Larduet, gymnast
• Rey Ángel Martínez, soccer
• Tomás Fernández, footballer in the 1938 World Cup
• Yanelis Yuliet Labrada Diaz, Olympic silver medallist in Taekwondo
• Maykel Galindo, soccer
• Jorge Sánchez Salgado, volleyball player
• Mijaín López, Greco-Roman wrestler

• Abelardo Colomé Ibarra, vice president of the Council of State of Cuba
• Alfonso Fraga-Perez, diplomat, Secretary General of the Organization of Solidarity of the People of Asia, Africa & Latin America (OSPAAAL), former Head of Cuban Interests Section
• Carlos Lage Dávila, former executive Secretary of the Council of Ministers of Cuba
• Felipe Pérez Roque, former Cuban government minister
• Fidel Castro, First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from 1965 to 2011
• José Luis Rodríguez García, Cuban government minister
• José Ramón Balaguer Cabrera, current Minister for Health in Cuba
• Juan Almeida Bosque, third ranking member of the Cuban Council of State
• Luis Posada Carriles, Cuban paramilitary leader, accused terrorist
• Mariela Castro, director of the Cuban National Center for Sex Education and daughter of Raúl Castro
• Oscar Elías Biscet, physician and dissident and founder of the Lawton Foundation, currently jailed
• Oswaldo Payá, founder of Proyecto Varela
• Raúl Castro, First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from 2011 to 2021
• Liaena Hernandez Martínez, youngest member of the Cuban National Assembly
• Roberto Fernández Retamar, President of the Casa de las Américas
• Ricardo Alarcón, President of the Cuban National Assembly
• Rosa Elena Simeón Negrín, former Minister of Science, Technology and the Environment
• Pedro Pablo Prada Quintero, diplomat
• Juan Valdés Figueroa, diplomat
• Miguel Díaz-Canel, current First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, since 2021

• Abel Santamaría, Cuban revolutionary
• Alcibiades Hidalgo, former ambassador to the UN
• Ana Betancourt, first to campaign for equal rights for Cuban women, in 1868 during the Ten Years' War
• Andrés Rivero Agüero, Cuba's prime minister from March 1957 to March 1958
• Anselmo Alliegro, acting president of Cuba for one day (1–2 January 1959) after the departure of General Fulgencio Batista from the country
• Antonio Guiteras, politician and revolutionary
• Antonio Maceo, revolutionary, military strategist
• Armando Hart Dávalos, politician and Communist leader
• Asela de los Santos, Cuban revolutionary, educator and politician
• Camilo Cienfuegos, Cuban revolutionary
• Carlos Hevia, provisional president of Cuba 1934
• Pilar Jorge de Tella, suffragist
• Carlos Manuel Piedra, acting president of Cuba for one day (2 January 1959) after the departure of General Fulgencio Batista from the country
• Carlos Prío Socarrás, former President of Cuba
• Celia Sánchez, Cuban revolutionary and Secretary to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers
• Cosme Torres Espinoza, ambassador to Zimbabwe
• Eduardo Chibás, Cuban politician who used radio to broadcast his political views against Batista's government to the public
• Federico Laredo Brú, President of Cuba from 1936 to 1940
• Fernando Tarrida del Mármol, Cuban anarchist
• Fabio Grobart, Communist leader
• Fulgencio Batista, former Cuban President
• Frank País, 20th century revolutionary
• Gerardo Machado, Cuban president 1920–33
• Gustavo Arcos, Cuban Revolutionary later became an imprisoned dissident
• Huber Matos, Cuban Revolutionary
• Ignacio Agramonte, 19th century Cuban revolutionary
• Jorge Mas Canosa, founder of the Cuban American National Foundation
• José Miró Cardona, President of Cuba in 1959
• José Martí, poet, philosopher, politician, writer, revolutionary
• Juan Carlos Robinson Agramonte, former member of the Cuban politburo and first Secretary of the Provincial Committee of the Cuban Communist Party in Santiago de Cuba
• Julio Antonio Mella, founder of the original Cuban Communist Party
• Jorge Payret, diplomat and academic
• Leopoldo Cancio, deputy and Sectetary of Education
• Manuel Piñeiro, first head of the Cuban General Intelligence Directorate
• Manuel Urrutia Lleó, provisional Cuban President January to July 1959
• María Cabrales, activist, revolutionary and nurse
• Miguel Mariano Gómez, President of Cuba for seven months in 1936
• Paul Lafargue, Cuban-born French Communist and son-in-law to Karl Marx
• Pedro Pablo Cazañas, Cuban judge and politician
• Rafael Diaz-Balart, Cuban politician and majority leader during presidency of Batista
• Ramón Grau, Cuban president for two terms 1933, 1940–44
• Saturnino and Mariano Lora, brothers and 19th century revolutionaries
• Vilma Espín Guillois, President of the Cuban Federation of Women, wife of Raúl Castro
• Virgilio Paz Romero, anti-Castro paramilitary

• Alfredo Llaguno-Canals, former Auxiliary Bishop of Havana
• Miguel A. De La Torre, prolific author on Hispanic religiosity
• Agustin Roman, retired Auxiliary Bishop of Miami
• Braulio Orue-Vivanco, former Bishop of Pinar del Río
• Eduardo Tomas Boza-Masvidal, former Auxiliary Bishop of Havana
• Félix Varela, beatified priest, candidate for sainthood
• Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, Cardinal Archbishop of Havana
• Meyer Rosenbaum, former rabbi and spiritual leader in Havana

• Maria Teresa, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg
• Edelmira Ignacia Adriana Sampedro-Robato, Countess of Covadonga, first wife of Alfonso Prince of Asturias
• Marta Ester Rocafort-Altazarra, second wife of Alfonso Prince of Asturias

• Adolfo Fernández Cavada, captain in the Union Army during the American Civil War who later served as commander-in-chief of the Cinco Villas during Cuba's Ten Year War
• Alberto Bayo y Giroud, Cuban military leader of the defeated left-wing Loyalists in the Spanish Civil War
• Antonio Maceo Grajales, second-in-command of the Cuban army of independence
• Arnaldo Ochoa, Cuban general
• Calixto García, Cuban soldier in the Ten Years' War
• Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, Cuban general in the war of independence against the Spanish
• Eliseo Reyes Rodríguez, Cuban guerrillero
• Emilio Mola Vidal (1887–1937), Nationalist commander during the Spanish Civil War (1936–39); known for coining the phrase "fifth column"
• Federico Fernández Cavada, colonel in the Union Army during the American Civil War; later commander-in-chief of all the Cuban forces during Cuba's Ten Year War
• Jesús Sosa Blanco, captain in the Cuban army under Fulgencio Batista
• José Braulio Alemán, Cuban general in the Spanish–American War
• José Miguel Gómez, Cuban general in the war of independence against the Spanish
• Julius Peter Garesché, lieutenant colonel in the Union Army who served as chief of staff, with the rank of lieutenant colonel to Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans
• Loreta Janeta Velazquez, a.k.a. "Lieutenant Harry Buford", Velazquez was a Cuban-born woman who masqueraded as a male Confederate soldier during the Civil War
• Manuel Artime, leader of the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961
• Máximo Gómez, 19th-century leader of Cuban forces in the wars of independence
• Pedro Luis Diaz Lanz, chief air force commander and member of Operation 40
• Víctor Dreke, Communist leader and a general in the Revolutionary Armed Forces
• Tomás Diez Acosta, revolutionary soldier and historian
• Víctor Ivo Acuña Velázquez, military commander
• Pilar Garcia, pre-revolutionary Chief of National Police

• Luis Alvarez, winner of the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physics, worked on the Manhattan Project
• Agustin Walfredo Castellanos, physician
• Carlos Juan Finlay, epidemiologist, proposed the mode of transmission of yellow fever and was instrumental in assisting Walter Reed with his studies in Cuba
• Juan Gundlach, 19th century naturalist and taxonomist
• Celia Hart, Cuban physicist
• Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, first Cuban cosmonaut and the first person from a country in the Western Hemisphere other than the U.S. to travel to space
• Hilda Molina, former chief neurosurgeon in Cuba
• Felipe Poey, zoologist

• Sebastian Arcos Bergnes, human rights activist
• Rosa Castellanos, military nurse
• Ramón Castro, older brother of Fidel and Raúl Castro
• Mirta Diaz-Balart, Fidel Castro's first wife
• Enriqueta García y Martín, prominent Cuban socialite, businesswoman and landowner
• Delfín Fernández, high ranking government official, defected to Spain
• Gregorio Fuentes, Cuban nautical captain
• Elián González, boy who came to the US, leading to a custody battle between his American family and his father in Cuba
• Jose Miguel Battle, Sr., former Godfather of the Cuban Mafia
• Antonio Sánchez de Bustamante y Sirven, Judge of the Permanent Court of International Justice at the Hague
• Dr. Eduardo J. Padrón, educator and college president
• Jesús Permuy, human rights activist, architect, urban planner, community leader
• Ignacio José Urrutia (1730–1795), historian
• Nitza Villapol, Cuban chef

• List of Cuban-Americans
• List of Cuban-Mexicans
• Dane Bowers
• Guillermo Cabrera Infante
• Yat-Sen Chang
• Sienna Guillory
• William Montagu (Yznaga)
• Consuelo Yznaga^[2]
• Taismary Agüero
• Mirka Francia
• Libania Grenot
• Magdelín Martínez
• Alex Cabrera
• Majandra Delfino
• Viviana Gibelli
• Arturo Miranda
• Eduardo Sebrango
• Bárbara Bermudo
• Mike Lowell
• Carlos Ponce
• Rita Marley
• Ziggy Marley
• Lenny Martinez
• Mariane Pearl
• Oscar Isaac

• List of people by nationality