Died Felipe Staitithe guitarist and founder of the Green Dwarvesat 64 years old. The musician was admitted to the Italian Hospital in the province of Mendoza and died on Monday afternoon, after suffering health complications. The news was confirmed by Diego Gareca, Secretary of Culture of Mendoza, who published a heartfelt message on his social networks.
“With deep sadness we say goodbye to the beloved Felipe Staiti, an immense talent from our land and a fundamental piece of the history of Mendoza rock. The culture of Mendoza loses one of its most brilliant and irreplaceable guitarists. We will remember your music forever. Goodbye, Felipe!“, he wrote.
According to local media The Andesat the end of 2024, after a tour of Latin America in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the band’s first album, Staiti suffered a bacterial infection in Mexico, which combined with his celiac condition and led to a serious health crisis. The musician had an episode of deep dehydration, for which he was admitted to the Italian Hospital in Mendoza for a month.
At that time, the guitarist defined the health crisis he suffered as a physical “reset” and said that he lost 15 kilos, in addition to suffering from problems with his vocal muscles. The band, for its part, had to cancel shows at festivals such as Santiago Rocks in Chile and dates in Colombia and Peru.
Staiti was the only founding member of Enanitos Verdes since the death of Marciano Cantero, in September 2022, due to kidney problems. After the death of his partner, the guitarist not only had to deal with the grief of the loss, but also assume the challenge of becoming the lead vocalist of the band.
Since then, the group continued its journey, with Staiti as the main figure. Until the moment of his death, the leader was planning a tour of the United States together with the Spanish group Hombres G for June and July, in the middle of the World Cup season. However, his project was conditioned by his process of recovering his vocal power.
The band was also working on making a greatest hits album with national and international guests, where they were going to cover their iconic songs.
Enanitos Verdes was celebrating because, days ago, at the end of March, the iconic song Bolivian Lament It surpassed one billion views on Spotify and became the first national rock song to reach a milestone of such magnitude.
“I hope you have a beautiful new year, a 2026 full of hope and dreams fulfilled. Thank you for this wonderful year and the best is always yet to come, congratulations,” Staiti had declared to his followers by way of closing 2025 and thanking them for their support of the band.
In an interview with THE NATION In 2019, Staiti had spoken about the effort the band made to get ahead in its beginnings. “At the beginning, in the 80s, we did concert and promotional tours, because we went with the album under our arms to see if they were interested in releasing it. The terrain was still very virgin, much more underground and everything was free. Although there were rock bands in all countries, Argentina was the first to export it,” remembers Staiti.
“It was a dwarf’s job, really, and it was also like making a bit of homeland. But now looking back on it one sees that it was a necessary step to be in the place we are today. Los Enanitos have transcended the Argentine borders to become a kind of reference for Latin rock, of an identity that represents, especially in the US, those of us who live on this side of the world and sing in Spanish,” he said.
