Manuel Cuéllar Vizcaíno was born at an old plantation in Ranchuelo, Cuba, in 1899. According to his grandson Ruben, it was there that his talents as a writer and teacher first emerged when he improvised a school to teach others how to read and write. Throughout his life, Manuel Cuéllar held various jobs in different parts of Cuba. He worked in the sugar cane fields, was a chauffeur, stevedore, teacher, and reader for other workers at tobacco and shoe factories in the Santa Clara and Cienfuego provinces. As a vulcanizer in Camagüey, Cuéllar met the poet Nicolas Guillén, and as a member of the Federación Nacional de Sociedades (National Federation of Societies) in the late 1920s, he engaged in social work also in the neighboring Haiti. In the early 1930s, Cuéllar joined the Communist Party in Cuba and fought against President Gerardo Machado, being arrested after seizing the village of Fomento with Gerardo Meneses. In 1936, however, he decided to devote himself completely to journalism and social work.

Through his writings and public service, Manuel Cuéllar became a voice against racial discrimination in Cuban politics, art and culture. He used to say that "he was Maceo, not Martí," identifying himself with Antonio Maceo, the black military commander who engaged in both the 1868 and 1895 wars of independence in Cuba. Unlike many black activists of his time, Cuéllar promoted the African influence on Cuban culture. In Havana, for example, he founded the radio program Sensemayá, featuring African drums for the first time along with presentations by Eusébia Cosme, Juan Luís Martín, Nicolás Guillén and Fernando Ortiz. He wrote columns for many publications such as the magazines Revista Bohemia, Renovación and Sensemayá, and the newspapers Avance, Pueblo, Tiempo en Cuba, El Noticiero and El Día. Among his most important books are Unas Cuantas Verdades (1944), Código de Moral del Sargento Político (1948), Leituras Criollas (1955), and Doce Muertes Famosas (1957). Manuel Cuéllar Vizcaíno died in Havana in 1988.