When many think of an iconic Latin American telenovela, they are probably thinking of Delia Fiallo story. The Cuban writer, who left her mark with her stories, passed away early Tuesday morning at the age of 96 in Coral Gables, Miami, according to family members.

The "mother of Latin American soap opera" left a legacy more than 40 radio and television works. Novelas such as Cristal, Esmeralda, La Zulianita, María del Mar, Topacio, El Privilegio de Amar among others, were productions based on her works and seen by millions of people around the world.

Throughout her career, the writer's works were adapted throughout the continent, from the United States to Argentina. Fiallo was a writer that never seemed to run out of creativity, writing her first radio soap opera in 1950 and her last telenovela in 1985.

When speaking about her time with the giant Televisa, the writer confessed in an interview: "I went to Televisa with many illusions, because all those great successes I had were achieved with a very honest, very humble production, in Venevisión, in Venezuela. And Televisa offered me a formidable production. What happened? The main thing failed: the book. By changing everything, the book failed." 

Fiallo studied Philosophy and Letters in Havana and began writing radio soap operas in the Cuban capital in 1949.

In 1966 he emigrated with her family to Miami and began working as a scriptwriter for soap operas for Venezuelan and Mexican channels. The first story she wrote for television was an adventure story — a one-chapter story — until she was asked to develop the American format, a series of chapters for a prime time soap opera.

"She died peacefully and surrounded by her loved ones," one of her sons told Televisa.