The popular actress Aurora Basnuevo, best known for her role as Estervina in the humorous radio show Alegrías de Sobremesa, celebrated her 84th birthday on Sunday August 13 and several recent images were shared on social networks.
However, the remarkable physical transformation of “La Mulatísima de Cuba” surprised many users since the artist looks quite thin and is in a wheelchair. The appearance of her husband, the well-known actor Mario Limonta, also caught the attention of many netizens, as both are known for their TV, radio and film roles.
“Congratulations to La Mulatísima de Cuba. God bless her always,” the Cubaactores page posted on Facebook, prompting hundreds of comments, the vast majority of which congratulated the popular artist, but there were also those who admitted how “unrecognizable” Basnuevo looked.
“My god, if Aurora was stronger than Limonta, this photo left me speechless, good health to her,” said one netizen ahead of a release by former Cuban TV announcer Rolando Zaldívar. “I’m shocked too, it seems to me she’s not,” confessed another.
“First of all my congratulations and blessings to this amazing woman. But I prefer to remember the Aurora Basnuevo I knew as a child. I was very impressed by this photo. Thank you Zaldívar for always keeping us updated on the lives of our artists,” said a third user.
The actress’ physical transformation has also happened quickly, according to an interview she gave to the official Cubadebate portal in 2020, where they share pictures of her and her husband in their apartment in the Vedado district of Havana.
“I will always be the Mulatísima or Estervina. That nickname was given to me by the people,” he said at the time. “I’m a completely normal person. I don’t complain about anything, I try to solve whenever I have a problem. I don’t like going to anyone, although there are many people who shake hands,” he later commented.
Basnuevo was born in 1938 in the city of Colón, province of Matanzas, at number 125 Calle Calixto García, at the corner of Bartolomé Masó. There he attended the school José de la Luz y Caballero and piano lessons. Her parents wanted her to be a teacher, so they took her to Havana when she turned 13.
About her childhood, in the same interview, she recalled being an obedient and hardworking little girl, for whom she is not bored when she is at home. “I played Yaquis and Cuquitas in Portal. I studied piano, I loved it. I reached fourth year on the instrument and was almost a girl,” she recalls.
“My mother didn’t want me to become an artist because there was a lot of prejudice at the time and this profession was considered the worst. I hid from her with the help of my little friends and appeared on the José Antonio Alonso show. I remember they lent me a little dress and I changed in the bathroom of the ICRT (Cuban Radio and Television Institute), which was the CMQ at the time,” she said.
In the interview, Basnuevo says she wants to be remembered “as a Cuban who dedicated her life to art and her people.” “I’m an actress who sings, dances, acts who loves her family and son with all my heart,” she added.