He studied elementary school in en Cárdenas and died in Havana on October 18th, 1979. In 1925 he moved wih his family to Camagüey, where he studied high school. He settled in Havana in 1938. In 1940 he became Ph Degree in the University of Havana. He founded and directed Poeta magazine in 1942. In Buenos Aires, where he lived 14 years, he worked as official of the Cuban Consulate, as proofreader, and later as translater of the Argos publishing house.
He has travelled through all Latin America, United States of America and Europe. He collaborated in Espuela de Plata, Grafos, Clavileño, Ultra, Orígenes, Gaceta del Caribe, Lyceum, Universidad de la Habana, Lunes de Revolución, La Gaceta de Cuba, Unión. He also collaborated, in Sur, Hoy, Realidad, Mundo Argentino and Anales de Buenos Aires in Buenos Aires. Besides he collaborated in Lettres Nouvelles and in Les Temps Modernes, in París. With José Rodríguez Feo he settled Ciclón in 1955. He directed Ediciones R (1960-1964).
He won the 1968 Casa de las Américas theatre award by his play Dos viejos pánicos (Two Old Panics) He is author of the selection and notes of Teatro del absurdo, anthology which gathers plays by Ionesco, Beckett, Pinter, Mrozek. He translated Juan Azul, by Jean Giono; Así habló el tío (Thus Spoke the Uncle) by Jean Price Mars, and Tribálicas, by Henri Lopes, among others. He Took part in translating Ferdydurke, by the Polish Witold Gombrowicz. Some of his stories and his poems have been translated into English, Italian, German, Russian, Hungarian, Polish, etc. Cuentos fríos (Cold Stories) was translated into French.