Alize Espiridiona Cenda del Castillo (14 December 1869 – 11 December 1945), known on stage as Chiquita, was a Cuban dwarf singer and performer.
Standing 26 inches tall, Cenda was fluent in Spanish, Italian, and English."Actress Who Is 28 Inches Tells Miss Martyn She Would Like to Keep House", Marguerite Martyn, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 5, 1910 She was married and had one child, who weighed no more than two pounds and died at an early age.
In 1901, she commissioned C. Francis Jenkins to build what was at the time the smallest automobile ever produced.The Motor Way Volumes 4-5 - Page 15 1901 The smallest automobile yet built is that made by the Jenkins Automobile Company, of Washington, D. C, for Chiquita, the little 26-inch atom of humanity, who is now using it at the Pan-American Exposition. It is a little electric Victoria, complete with top, electric lights and gong, fenders and wheel steering gear. It is. in fact, so exact a miniature duplicate of a full grown..."
Cuban author Antonio Orlando Rodríguez won the Premio Alfaguara for his 2008 novel Chiquita, based on Cenda's life.
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