He was born in Cárdenas into the utmost poverty, something too common in pre-Castro Cuba. Piñera is representative of the class whose fate should have been improved by the Revolution, a cause he embraced, even though somewhat sceptically. Yet, his writings were forbidden in 1968, he was silenced, forced to earn a living as a translator, and would die in misery, lonely and forgotten in Havana.

Piñera left the village where he was born to explore both his artistic instincts and his homosexuality. He went to Havana where he started a career in the theatre. Publication of his novella Presones y diamantes (1968) made him suspect of dissidence, and for the remainder of his life he became a non-person, officially banned from work and under constant treat of imprisonment.

Piñera's work is quickly regaining the prestige and reputation it reached in the late 1940s. He wrote works for the theatre, short stories and novels, together with autobiographical writings. His fate as a writer under Castro, sadly illustrates the bleakest side of the Cuban revolution.