There is an interesting link to the DR with this story. He took on the name "Compay" (a conjunction of "los compadres") for a tour of the Dominican Republic in the late 1950s. There was a lot of cross-polinization of Cuban and Dominican music in those years.
I learned about BVSC while I lived in Japan. Sorry I didn't take the opportunity then to see Compay in Tokyo.
Even though he was Cuban, I would listen to the CD I bought and reminisce of the DR.
Bless his heart.
mk