IMAGES FROM HISTORY
Transcripción
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 Todos los derechos reservados. Ninguna parte de esta publicación puede All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored ser reproducida, conservada en un sistema reproductor o transmitirse en in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, cualquier forma o por cualquier medio electrónico, mecánico, fotocopia, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior grabación o cualquier otro, sin previa autorización del editor. permission of the publisher. ISBN: 978-1-925019-03-2 (paper) ISBN: 978-1-925019-02-5 ISBN: 978-1-925019-12-4 (cloth) Primera edición 2014 Impreso en Asia Pacific Offset Ltd., China PUBLICADO POR OCEAN SUR OCEAN SUR ES UN PROYECTO DE OCEAN PRESS México: E-mail: [email protected] EE.UU.: E-mail: [email protected] Cuba: E-mail: [email protected] El Salvador: E-mail: [email protected] DISTRIBUIDORES DE OCEAN SUR Argentina: Distal Libros ▪ Tel: (54-11) 5235 1555 ▪ E-mail: [email protected] Australia: Ocean Press ▪ E-mail: [email protected] Bolivia: Ocean Sur Bolivia ▪ E-mail: [email protected] Canadá: Publishers Group Canada ▪ Tel: 1 800 663 5714 ▪ E-mail: [email protected] Chile: Ocean Sur Chile ▪ Tel: (56-2) 23002016 ▪ E-mail: [email protected] Colombia: Ediciones Izquierda Viva ▪ Tel/Fax: 285 5586 ▪ E-mail: [email protected] Cuba: Ocean Sur ▪ E-mail: [email protected] EE.UU.: CBSD ▪ Tel: 1 800 283 3572 ▪ www.cbsd.com El Salvador y Guatemala: Editorial Morazán ▪ E-mail: [email protected] ▪ Tel: 2235 7897 Gran Bretaña y Europa: Turnaround Publisher Services ▪ E-mail: [email protected] México: Ocean Sur ▪ E-mail: [email protected] Paraguay: Editorial Arandura ▪ E-mail: [email protected] Puerto Rico: Libros El Navegante ▪ Tel: 78 7342 7468 ▪ E-mail: [email protected] Venezuela: Ocean Sur Venezuela ▪ E-mail: [email protected] 978-1-925019-41-4 (cloth) First edition 2014 Printed by Asia Pacific Offset Ltd., China PUBLISHED BY OCEAN PRESS Australia: PO Box 1015, North Melbourne, Victoria 3051, Australia USA: E-mail: [email protected] OCEAN PRESS TRADE DISTRIBUTORS United States: Consortium Book Sales and Distribution ▪ Tel: 1 800 283 3572 ▪ www.cbsd.com Canada: Publishers Group Canada ▪ Tel: 1 800 663 5714 ▪ E-mail: [email protected] UK and Europe: Turnaround Publisher Services ▪ E-mail: [email protected] Mexico and Latin America: Ocean Sur ▪ E-mail: [email protected] 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 ----------- Photography/Memoir www.oceansur.com www.oceanbooks.com.au