Book VI Prints 1-7: Revolutionary Tribunal trial of two United States fighter pilots

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Manuscripts and Archives > Cuban revolution collection (MS 650) > Series I: Andrew St. George Photographs, Films, and Papers > Photographs > Contact Book VI > Book VI Prints 1-7: Revolutionary Tribunal trial of two United States fighter pilots


10018370

Description

Title
Book VI Prints 1-7: Revolutionary Tribunal trial of two United States fighter pilots
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
Description
These contact sheets document the trial by Revolutionary Tribunal in Cuba of two U.S. fighter pilots who had served in World War II and who organized a counterrevolutionary guerrilla force, apparently under the cover of the CIA, for the purpose of toppling the Castro-led government in September of 1959. The focus of their operations was Lajas, a small village in the municipality of Consolación del Sur near the mountain range known as la Cordillera de los Organos, province of Pinar del Río, in the fall of 1959. Prints 1 and 2 show the men in clear close-up. Frames 18-22 in the first row and all frames in the third, fourth and fifth rows of Print 1 depict Peter Lambton, standing to the left of his government-appointed lawyer and a member of the revolutionary militia who is apparently questioning him before a microphone in the presence of the tribunal (see Prints 2, 3, 4, 4a, 5, 6, 7). Frames in the second row (unnumbered except for no. 29) depict Austin Young. Austin Young was originally arrested and confined to La Cabaña fortress in Havana on March 27, 1959, for helping members of the Batista regime accused of war crimes, such as torture and corruption, escape to the United States rather than stand trial and face probable execution in Cuba. A short time later, Young was deported to the United States as an act of good will on the part of the Cuban government. Accompanied by Peter Lambton, Young later resurfaced under the false name of "Russell Gardner" on September 13, 1959, in Varadero, Cuba, where they entered the country for the purpose of recruiting and coordinating a guerrilla unit among former batistianos and peasants worried about the possibility of losing their land to a government they feared was Communist. Young, Lambton and a Cuban national named Pruna Bertot, who had also faced imprisonment in La Cabaña but escaped from prison seven days before the former's arrival in Cuba, comprised the leadership of the counterrevolutionary conspirators in Cuba. Pruna Bertot appears in Print 7, frames 27, 28, 29, to the left of Young, Lambton and an unidentified man wearing glasses with a slight moustache. Print 7 also shows a peasant rendering testimony before the tribunal, a black man wearing a long-sleeved shirt standing before a microphone; it is not clear whether he was a witness presenting evidence or one of the accused. The name of their organization was "The Cuban Democratic Legión." It counted on the support of such former Batista military officers in the region of Pinar del Río as Juan Cruz Padrón and his brothers. Local peasants in the region were responsible for reporting these subversive activities to regional authorities, who promptly arrested Young, Lambton and a total of eight guerrilla recruits. At the trial, Young and Lambton were found guilty of conspiring under the cover of the CIA to topple the Cuban revolutionary government and sentenced to thirty years in prison, although they were later released into United States custody following negotiations over the failed CIA-directed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. Other Cuban conspirators received sentences of between 3 and 25 years.
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 4, folder 370-376

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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)
10018370

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