I was on the radio again today, on Voice of America broadcasting to all of Latin America in Spanish.

I was discussing the impact of Cuban painter Jose Maria Mijares, who died in Miami a few days ago - read the Miami Herald story here.

Mijares, who won the Cuban National Painting Prize in 1950, lived for a while in New York, where the Abstract movement had a tremendous impression on his work.

When he escaped Castro's jailed island in 1968, Mijares returned to representation to express the loss of his homeland and his work became very important to the powerful Cuban footprint on American art.

He will be missed.