The text “The Hurricane: Its Mythology and Symbols” is one of the most neglected texts by Ortiz scholars. It focuses on this wind phenomenon, but with a perspective that examines the symbolism of numerous cultures regarding it and the meaning that has long been attributed to the strength and direction of winds, a source of rich mythologies.

The work begins with cave paintings, which reveal figurative manifestations of nature, perceived as expressions of divine and unknown forces. In this sense, air and its manifestations have been part of the network of magical and symbolic references in almost all cultures, and Ortiz transcends the Eurocentric perspective to explore other ecumena with satisfactory results.

Ortiz’s erudition is particularly evident in this work, perhaps because it was not intended primarily as a demonstration, but rather as an illustration of cultural spheres, the essential unity of certain myths, and the differences that ultimately enrich humanity. He is particularly interested in the interconnections between the “Old World”—beyond the European—and the “New World,” as these were decisive in shaping their cultural contemporaries.

The interweaving of a rigorous scientific method, which includes a widespread body of documentary references that support its own ideas, with an entertaining style close to literary fiction, which also includes verses and lyrical texts by Cuban authors, is interesting. This is not gratuitous, but rather seeks to capture a vision of culture that does not accept the disjunction between science and other types of knowledge and is, by definition, integrative.

Although Ortiz’s text is not exempt from epistemological rigor, it demonstrates an approach in which the associative freedom inherent in literary creation plays an important role. Although the phenomenon is tropical in nature and the word’s origin is Taíno, Ortiz tends toward universality when addressing the manifestations of air, an element that physically and symbolically links all human communities.