Tocororo Press is an independent publishing company founded by Sara Alvarez Aiello, established in 2025 with our first publishing of Yaminalina.
El Tocororo
The tocororo, Cuba’s national bird, presents the colors of the Cuban flag: red, white, and azul turquí (a vibrant shade of tourquoise). Its magnificent plumage ends in a tail of feathers that scallop outwards like the pages of a book. Few have seen this elusive bird. It dwells deep in the forests of Cuba. They say it dies in captivity, valuing liberty above life. Perhaps this is why it was chosen to represent the Cuban people. Cubans love the concept of freedom. There’s even a drink named for it, La Cuba Libre. Yet, I find that people often obsess more with what they lack than with what they have, and maybe that’s true for us Cubans. Our passion for freedom could actually stem from lament rather than joy. For, while the tocororo still sings freely in its Cuban forest, the people on the island have been living under the yoke of oppression since its inception as a Spanish colony. And the Cuban diaspora, myself included, cry for a mythical past that never really existed.
