Polo Montañez

The news of the death of Cuban singer Polo Montañez on November 26, 2002, as a result of an automobile accident shocked and grieved fans of Latin music around the world. In Havana, where fans of the self-proclaimed "Guajiro Natural" -- a Homegrown Country Boy -- had been listening anxiously to hourly radio bulletins updating his condition, the loss registered as a national tragedy. Born Fernando Borrego Linares in the rural province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba, on June 5, 1955, his nickname -- adopted when Montañez was still a coal worker and truck driver playing music as an off-h...