IMAGES FROM HISTORY

IMAGES FROM HISTORY
CHE & FIDEL
Introduction by Aleida March
Derechos © 2014 Ocean Press y Ocean Sur
Copyright © 2014 Ocean Press
Derechos © Aleida March y Centro de Estudios Che Guevara
Copyright © Aleida March and Che Guevara Studies Center
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ISBN: 978-1-925019-03-2 (paper)
ISBN: 978-1-925019-02-5
ISBN: 978-1-925019-12-4 (cloth)
Primera edición 2014
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First edition 2014
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INDEX
Foreword: “That night together with the volcanos”
1
Introduction
5
Mexico: “…for all big projects you need passion and audacity”
16
Sierra Maestra: the seed of the aurora
24
Revolutionary victory: the people in revolution
36
Socialist times: forgers of victory
54
My dreams will not have borders
72
1ntil the wnal victory
nä
FOREWORD
That night near the volcanoes
Graziella Pogolotti
In order to prove himself, Che tried to climb the Popo (Popocatépetl), the dormant
volcano that keeps watch over Mexico City. From there, you could draw an imaginary line
that unites the southern part of the continent with the Caribbean. Ernesto Guevara—he
was not yet Che—had travelled from Argentina; he became familiar with the problems
of the continent America and experienced wrst hand the tragedy of Guatemala. After
the attack on the Moncada military barracks and prison on the Isle of Pines, Fidel went
to Mexico with the irrevocable plan of once again preparing the necessary war against
the Batista dictatorship. In different contexts, both men had recognized the signs of a
common reality, and had forged very similar projects.
It was not a coincidence but rather a concurrent set of circumstances that led to that wrst
encounter and the intimate dialog that took place during that long and decisive night.
They recognized similar things in each other and sowed the seeds of an indestructible
bond based on the same sentiments and thoughts, consolidated very quickly by a mutual
trust during struggles, arguments and the luminous days they shared. They were both
writing pages in history.
A good photographic book invites one to pore over the images. In exceptional cases—
and this is one of those books—your gaze wanders from the page and opens a gateway to
dream and to meditate on the fundamental nature of our existence and the world in which
we live.
These two individuals were capable of uniting creative thought with action, of wghting
for the present without renouncing the strategies that looked to the future, even in the
most difwcult circumstances. They were resistant to dogmatic thought of any kind. They
believed, like Jose Martí in improving life for the people and made this the main objective
of the enormous task that they undertook during their lives. The singularity of their
accomplishment that awakened our America reveals the dialectical relationship between
the human personality and the forces that inyuence history. The key to that connection
can be found in the ability to perceive, behind the facts, the things that favored change
and to motivate forces to make that project a reality.
That night in Mexico of the wrst meeting of Che and Fidel was the prelude to the Granma
expedition and the struggle in the Sierra Maestra, to the battle of Santa Clara and the
triumph of the Cuban Revolution, the Bay of Pigs, the October missile crisis, the Third
World project and of the days in the Congo and Bolivia.
These photographs show milestones of an uninterrupted dialog despite the geographical
distance or Che’s execution in Bolivia. In our land, volcanoes appear to be dormant while
preserving within their core smoldering lava.
1
Together with Fidel, at the airport in first months of 1959.
At a meeting with workers of the Ministry of Industry, 1963.
Prior to Che’s depature for the Congo, Fidel and Che (disguised as Ramón Benítez), April 1965.
Fidel, Raúl and Che at a farewell for a visiting head of state, August 1963.
IMAGES FROM HISTORY
CHE & FIDEL
If my final hour finds me under other skies, my last thought will be
of this [Cuban] people and especially of you [Fidel]. I am grateful for
your teaching, your example, and I will try to be faithful up to the final
consequences of my acts.
From Che’s farewell letter to Fidel, 1965
What was it that we admired about him, that impressed us?
What were those characteristics that gave the precise measure
of Che’s spirit and soul? It was his moral qualities, his altruism, his
absolute selflessness…. Che didn’t seek honors, Che didn’t struggle
for material wellbeing. He didn’t struggle from ambition. Che never
struggled for glory.
Fidel speaking about Che in Chile, 1971
Che & Fidel offers a photographic testimony to the extraordinary bond
that existed between two extraordinary individuals, whose example
still serves today to inspire all those seeking a better world of justice
and dignity for all humankind.
ISBN 978-1-925019-41-4 cloth
US$14.95 US$19.95
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Photography/Memoir
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