Book IV Prints 1-18: Fidel Castro trip to Venezuela

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Manuscripts and Archives > Cuban revolution collection (MS 650) > Series I: Andrew St. George Photographs, Films, and Papers > Photographs > Contact Book IV > Book IV Prints 1-18: Fidel Castro trip to Venezuela


10018247

Description

Title
Book IV Prints 1-18: Fidel Castro trip to Venezuela
Creator
From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Contributor
From the Collection: St. George, Andrew, 1924-2001
From the Collection: Stone, David C.
Published / Created
1959 January 23-29
Description
This collection of prints documents Fidel Castro's trip to Venezuela that began on January 23, 1959, with his arrival at Maiqueta airport in Caracas (see Book 3). Although revolutionary forces had just taken power in Cuba, Fidel Castro made his visit a priority and scheduled it to coincide with the first anniversary of the fall of Venezuela's ten-year dictatorship under General Marcos Pérez Jiménez on the 23 of January 1958 after a successful two-day general strike. One of the principal reasons for Castro's visit to Venezuela was to encourage support for multi-country cooperation in the organization, financing and training of invasion forces who could topple the remaining Caribbean dictatorships of Jean-Claude Duvalier in Haiti, the Somoza brothers in Nicaragua and Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic (where both Fulgencio Batista of Cuba and Pérez Jiménez of Venezuela had fled before seeking permanent exile in Franco's Spain). Such attempted invasions did take place over the next year and a half, although all of them failed. In this set of prints, Prints 1-7 show Fidel Castro giving formal speeches before a joint session of the Venezuelan Congress in the Chamber of Deputies (see especially Prints 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) and holding public meetings with local officials at the Palacio de Miraflores (especially Prints 9, 10, 18). Frames 13 and 14 of Print 10 show Fidel Castro flanked by Colonel Pedro José Quevedo and Captain of the Venezuelan Navy Miguel Rodríguez on his left and Cuban Ambassador Pividal on his right. Print 15 depicts Fidel and Venezuelan hosts having dinner at a long banquet table in an unusually sparse room at an unidentified location: the room features walls made of wooden planks; against the wall behind the speakers' table hang both the Cuban and Venezuelan flags. In frames 17 and 22 of Print 15, Fidel Castro is seen in the middle of the table with Celia Sánchez to his left. The press is also a significant presence, crowding around the front of the table. Prints 16 and 17 show Fidel Castro holding a private, two-hour meeting with Venezuela's new President Romulo Betancourt, elected only a few months earlier in a race against the candidate who had headed the military opposition that toppled Pérez Jiménez, Wolfgang Larrazabal (see Contact Book III). The meeting with Betancourt took place in his personal residence, an estate known as Marítmar in Caracas, on Sunday, the last night of Castro's visit. In his accompanying notes for this Contact Book, St. George pays special attention to Fidel Castro's speech at the Aula Magna of the University of Caracas, a visit documented in Prints 8, 11, 12, 13, and 14. In this group, Print 13 shows administrators of the university presenting Castro certificate of "Honor al Mérito" (frames 13-18, 23-24) and guerrilla members of his entourage enjoying milk shakes at the university cafeteria as the uniformed cafeteria staff crowds around their table (frames 3-4). According to St. George's notes, Fidel opted to remove his military cap and wear a beret in deference to the university's recent victory in gaining guarantees of institutional and political autonomy from the Venezuelan state over the last year. The beret was, in fact, a gift from the Orfeón Universitario, a student singing group that hailed Castro's arrival. Present at Castro's talk was Pablo Neruda, the Chilean poet. St. George also attests to the fact that Castro used the opportunity to announce his support for the training of a Dominican invasion force and introduced the Dominican-born captain of his rebel army, Enrique Jiménez, as its leader. Further images and direct citation of St. George's notes on this matter may be found in the description for Prints 34 and 37. See also Book 3, Prints 34 and 37.
Provenance
Purchased from Andrew St. George in 1969 and from David C. Stone in 1970. Gift of Adolfas Mekas, 2010. Transferred from the Latin American Collection Curator, 2016.
Extent of Digitization
This object has been partially digitized.
Language
Multiple languages

Item Location

Repository
Manuscripts and Archives
Call Number
MS 650
Search for Additional Digitized Material in This Collection
Container / Volume
Box 3, folder 247-264

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Access And Usage Rights

Access
Public
Rights
The use of this image may be subject to the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) or to site license or other rights management terms and conditions. The person using the image is liable for any infringement.
Citation
Cuban Revolution Collection (MS 650). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.

Identifiers

Orbis Record
614150
Object ID (OID)
10018247

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