Juan Manuel Padrón Blanco (January 29, 1947 – March 24, 2020) was a Cuban animation director and comics artist, best known as the creator of the comic strip Elpidio Valdés.^[1]

He was born in Matanzas. From 1963 he published sketches and cartoons for Cuban magazines and newspapers. He was the creator, in 1970, of Elpidio Valdés,^[2] a cartoon character (and series) with more than sixty shorts and two feature-length movies. Padrón received international attention for Vampires in Havana, an adult-oriented comedy feature that gathered a cult following abroad.

Padrón directed six animated feature films in total, along with many shorts, especially those with Elpidio Valdés as the main character; and the one-minute comedy sketches for adults "Filminutos".

In 2008, Padrón was selected as the recipient of Cuba's National Film Award.^[3]

On 24 March 2020, Juan Padrón died in Havana, Cuba after having been in the hospital in Intensive Care for several days due to a lung disease.