Alejandro Riós Refuses To Be Discreet In La Mirada Indiscreta

TV personality, journalist and culture aficionado Alejandro Riós released his first book La Mirada Indiscreta on Oct. 23.

The 774-page book is a compilation of Riós’ weekly columns published in El Nuevo Herald from 2007 to 2017. The columns are listed in chronological order and range from topics such as his childhood, family, movies, classic rock music, Cuba and Miami. Each column is around 600 words.

Riós, who is currently the hispanic media specialist for Miami Dade College’s media relations department, came to Miami in 1992 as a political exile from Cuba. Riós started working at Wolfson Campus the same year. At the College, he began the Cuban Cinema Series, where he showcased Cuban films, like Fresa y Chocolate and La Bella Del Alhambra, at the Wolfson Campus auditorium.

Later TV Martí offered to convert the series into the TV show La Pantalla De Azogue, which was later called Pantalla TVM. More than 17 years later, the show was cancelled because of a change in administration. In 2007, Riós began the TV program La Mirada Indiscreta on América TeVé, a cultural program where he discusses Cuban cinema with Cuban directors and filmmakers. The show is available every Saturday on Channel 41 at 9 p.m.  

“The program, just like the columns, are like a democratic history of Cuban cinema where everything can appear,” Riós said. “In Cuba, the history of cinema has always excluded some directors because of them being prohibited, but I include everyone. That’s the idea of the program, to include everyone.”

The title is a play on the Spanish title of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window. In Spanish, the movie is named La Ventana Indiscreta.

“Being indiscreet is, especially as a social or political term, to reveal what somebody does not want to reveal. In this case, it’s the Cuban Government,” Riós said.  “They would prefer if the book or the program didn’t exist, because I am putting in information that they don’t want to release at the disposition of the public.”

Riós, 65, waited for the right opportunity to publish the book.

“I always wanted to publish a book, but I didn’t want to release a book just to have it published,” Riós said. “I waited to have something important to tell and I think here is something interesting that people can relate to.”

When he decided he wanted to publish his columns, he contacted Pablo Diáz Espí, director of Diario de Cuba, and Ladislao Aguado, editorial director of Hypermedia, a publishing company under Diario De Cuba.

La Mirada Indiscreta could be understood as a summary of what has been the sociocultural Cuban life in the past 10 years,” Aguado said. “Alejandro Riós’ columns in El Nuevo Herald have been marking the guidelines and principal successes of our events as a nation.”

He presented his book at the Miami Book Fair’s De La Entrevista A La Crítica Cinematográfica on Nov. 18. At the event, Riós’ books sold out.

“I was satisfied because everything sold out. I don’t know how many books were sold, but there were 10 or 20 [people] who were left without books,” Riós said.

Riós has written hundreds of weekly columns for El Nuevo Herald since 2007. The columns are published online on Wednesday and published in print on Thursday.

He chose to write columns because he prefers to write from personal experience.

“To me it’s one of the most interesting genres because it’s a genre that’s very personal,” Riós said. “It’s part of a journalist’s personal experience. I prefer to practice journalism through personal experiences without ignoring the truth.”

His first column was about his hope for young Cuban filmmakers. His last column in the book is about his wife of 30 years, Esther Riós, who is a Network Coordinator at West Campus. The two met in Cuba when they worked at the Cuban Ministry of Culture.

“I’ve always supported him. I’ve admired him since the beginning; he is a very cultured man. He has been like a teacher to me. He has transmitted his knowledge and enriched my life,” Riós said. “His book is a deserved recognition of his large trajectory as a journalist, critic and cultural promoter. We are all very proud of him.”

Riós has plans for a sequel, but wants to publish it in two years instead of 10.

According to Aguado, presentations of the book are planned at Books & Books in January, and at the Feria Internacional del Libro in Madrid this June. Hypermedia is also planning to have their own book fair in the spring to showcase their authors.

“People feel fulfilled when they have a child, publish a book and plant a tree,” Riós said. “I have accomplished all three.”  

La Mirada Indiscreta is available in paperback through Amazon for $28.90.