Felipe Staiti, the guitarist and founder of Enanitos Verdes, died at 64 on Monday, April 13, at the Italian Hospital in Mendoza, Argentina. Diego Gareca, the local secretary of Culture, confirmed the news on social media and said the city had lost one of its most brilliant and irreplaceable rock musicians.
The cause of death was not revealed. Local reports said Staiti had been hospitalized in recent days after suffering health complications, closing a difficult stretch that had already put his health in the spotlight at the end of 2024. Los Andes reported that he suffered a bacterial infection in Mexico, then faced a serious setback tied to his celiac condition. He was hospitalized for one month and lost 33 pounds.
Clarín said he was in the process of regaining weight, muscle mass and vocal strength. That mattered because Staiti had taken over as vocalist of Enanitos Verdes in 2022 after Marciano Cantero died, keeping the popular rock band moving through a period of loss and transition.
Gareca wrote that Mendoza was saying goodbye to “a talent of immense value” and “one of the brightest and most irreplaceable guitarists” in its rock history. His death lands as more than a personal loss for the people closest to him. It removes one of the defining figures from Mendoza’s rock legacy, and it leaves Enanitos Verdes without the musician who helped found the band and later carried its voice after Cantero’s death.