Elpidio Valdés is a Cuban animated character created by Juan Padrón, a mambí fighter from Cuba's wars of independence who became a familiar figure in Cuban cartoons and films. Silvio Rodríguez, one of Cuba's most influential singer-songwriters, wrote this ballad for the character, and the song has since circulated as a piece of Cuban cultural nostalgia. Online, short excerpts are shared by fans introducing the hero to new audiences or recalling the cartoons they grew up watching.