Call Number: MS 1912 - Yale University Library Search Results

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19. Plaza of the Presidential Palace, million-person rally to support the Revolutionary government’s trial and executions of Batistianos, and trial in sports stadium of José Sosa Blanco

Creator:: From the Collection: St. George, Andrew, 1924-2001
Published / Created:: 1959 January
Call Number:: MS 1912
Container / Volume:: Box 42, folder 8
Image Count:: 12
Description:: This folder includes images of “Operation Truth,” a campaign on the part of the revolutionary government to show American critics that the Cuban people supported the trial and execution of all intelligence and security forces of the Batista dictatorship that was responsible for committing atrocities against its opponents. A highlight of the campaign was the trial of Captain Jesús Sosa Blanco, commander of the military garrison in Holguín, Oriente Province, and one of the most despised batistiano officials on the island in Havana's National Stadium; the trial occurred on January 14, 1959, before 18,000 spectators and members of the international press corps. There are images in the folder showing a million-plus rally in support of revolutionary justice held before the Presidential Palace. There is a portrait of Elena Escardo, under arrest in Santiago de Cuba. The verso of this portrait describes her as a “Mexican actress, torrid romantic interest of Masferrer in the late Fifties; here shown under arrest in Santiago after Masferrer fled and Castro took over. She was shot as a suspected spy.” There is another photograph showing two rebels standing before a large mound of earth. The caption reads: “WIDE WORLD PHOTOS. MASS GRAVE OF EXECUTED. SANTIAGO, CUBA.... This mound of earth covers the mass grave of 71 Batista followers reported executed yesterday by Cuban rebels. Rebel officers say four of those executed were found guilty of crimes at a Sunday night military tribunal. Rebel Capt. Frank Fiorino, (left) an American from Norfolk, Va., is one of the two men standing by the grave. January 13, 1959.”
Found in:: Manuscripts and Archives > Andrew St. George papers (MS 1912) > Series II: Photographs > Cuba > Cuban Revolution and aftermath > Plaza of the Presidential Palace, million-person rally to support the Revolutionary government’s trial and executions of Batistianos, and trial in sports stadium of José Sosa Blanco

20. Portraits of guerrillas and guerrilla-affiliated family members in Fidel’s column

Creator:: From the Collection: St. George, Andrew, 1924-2001
Published / Created:: 1957 June and Nov, 1959
Call Number:: MS 1912
Container / Volume:: Box 42, folder 2
Image Count:: 9
Description:: There are portraits of individual guerrillas including Fidel Castro, Felipe Guerra Matos (in 1957 and January 1959), as well as the later infamous Manuel Piñeiro, better known as Barba Roja. Piñeiro was chief of Cuba’s domestic intelligence service, commonly known as G2, during the 1960s and later a top official in the Sovietized Ministry of the Interior after 1968. There is a composite and retouched photograph with founders of the first 26th of July guerrilla column in the Sierra Maestra, probably from June 1957. Included in this photograph are an unknown rebel, Che Guevara (second from left), Universo Sanchez (third from left), Raul Castro (fourth from the left), followed by Fidel Castro (on Raul's left), Crescencio Perez, and Andrew St. George on the far right with his hand on his left hip. The third man on the right on his haunches is Juan Almeida Bosque. A cropped version of this photograph is in Box 8, folder 2. One picture shows Fidel with a young couple at his side and bearded guerrillas. The woman is wearing a fashionable scarf in her hair and full make-up while the man is relatively well-shaven. On the back of this image, St. George includes a caption that says “Pura Pradier, a young Habana musician and concert singer (center) was often seen with Castro after rebel victory. Here she is shown with him on mountain maneuvers.” There are individual images of Fidel and other unidentified guerrillas, including a young woman inspecting a hand gun and a black Cuban with glasses posing with a rifle.
Found in:: Manuscripts and Archives > Andrew St. George papers (MS 1912) > Series II: Photographs > Cuba > Cuban Revolution and aftermath > Portraits of guerrillas and guerrilla-affiliated family members in Fidel’s column

21. Radicalization process, including state control over the press, public spaces, and political indoctrination of programs

Creator:: From the Collection: St. George, Andrew, 1924-2001
Published / Created:: 1960
Call Number:: MS 1912
Container / Volume:: Box 46, folder 14
Image Count:: 6
Description:: The radicalization process of 1960 and the participation of the population in various state programs of political indoctrination and economic management were modeled on the Soviet and Chinese Communist system. These photographs include a shot of a political education class in which all participants wear the uniform of the Revolutionary Militia; a rally before the Presidential Palace, shot from the balcony or its roof; young girls marching military-style under the supervision of drill instructors on San Lázaro Street, a main artery that connects the University of Havana with Centro Habana; Fidel and other officials gathered at the monument to José Martí in Revolutionary Plaza, minutes before a major rally; hand-made signs posted on the storefront of Western Union on Havana’s Obispo Street, protesting the closure of the office and the firing of Cuban employees; a wide-angle street scene taken on Carlos III, a wide avenue in Havana, showing the nationalist political postings on the median and wall of a building (these claim revolutionary goals as “National Sovereignty, Economic Independence, Agrarian Reform, Industrialization”); a newsstand featuring only government-controlled media and magazines from socialist countries; a government print shop with political propaganda books published recently; men suiting up for militia duty (duplicate print is in Box 8, folder 4); and a wall with graffiti supporting Fidel. The image of the girls marching includes a strip caption on back by St. George that reads “In typical tableau, group of 6-8 year old schoolgirls [sic] drill under 2 rebel army instructors on Havana’s central San Lazaro St.” The photograph with Fidel and other leaders assembled on the speaker’s platform at the monument to Martí includes notes on the back that correspond to numbers St. George penciled in, pinpointing certain figures standing with Fidel. They are American William Morgan (later shot for treason in 1961), Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo (later founder of the exile guerrilla Alpha 66) and Aubelz (?). St George seems to be indicating who were members of the Segundo Frente Escambray, an independent guerrilla organization that allied with Fidel’s movement to topple Batista. After 1960, the Segundo Frente’s members became suspect because they were all avowedly anti-Communist and therefore believed to be tied to the CIA. The photograph of the men suiting up for military duty includes this caption: II: MILITARY FEVER GRIPS CUBA / With all Cubans (of both sexes) between the ages of 6 and 60 eligible for milicia duty, and with new anti-Castro guerrilla forces fighting in the mountains of the Sierra Maestra (mountains in the background) all Cuba is getting into uniform, like these shivering and reluctant milicianos of the Havana Architects’ and Lawyers Militia Battalion: they are called to duty to defend the government against anti-Castro “bandits” (who have entered violent battle against the Castro regime during first weeks of April) and against a “foreign invasion” which has not yet materialized, but which Castro seems to expect. This photo was taken in brand-new – as yet unfinished – militia camp at Las Mercedes, among Sierra Maestra foothills.
Found in:: Manuscripts and Archives > Andrew St. George papers (MS 1912) > Series II: Photographs > Cuba > Cuban Revolution and aftermath > Radicalization process, including state control over the press, public spaces, and political indoctrination of programs

22. Raúl Castro, 1st days of January 1959

Creator:: From the Collection: St. George, Andrew, 1924-2001
Published / Created:: 1959 January
Call Number:: MS 1912
Container / Volume:: Box 42, folder 6
Image Count:: 4
Description:: The images in this folder focus on Raúl Castro. In an up-close photograph, he is smiling for the camera while apparently giving a press conference in the early days of January 1959. On the wall behind him appears a list of radio stations broadcasting the press conference: CMKC Radio Oriente / CNC Circuito Nacional / CMBC Radio Progreso / CMCF Unión Radio / CMK? (obscured by RC’s head) Red Provincial / C???? Radio Min (also obscured). He is also shown in his first meeting with his fiancée, Vilma Espín, on January 1, 1959, after many months of separation. One photograph is of an airplane cabin with Raúl Castro and gunmen stationed near the door.
Found in:: Manuscripts and Archives > Andrew St. George papers (MS 1912) > Series II: Photographs > Cuba > Cuban Revolution and aftermath > Raúl Castro, 1st days of January 1959

23. School boys at the newly constructed school at the former Moncada military barracks in Oriente

Creator:: From the Collection: St. George, Andrew, 1924-2001
Published / Created:: 1960
Call Number:: MS 1912
Container / Volume:: Box 46, folder 9
Image Count:: 4
Description:: These images are of young school boys during morning assembly at the newly constructed school at the former Moncada military barracks in Oriente. It was at this barracks that Fidel’s ill-prepared armed force attacked on the 26th of July 1953, resulting in a massacre of most of its members. Fidel’s subsequent guerrilla movement took the 26th of July as its name in honor of the dead and wounded from that famous attack. Although Fidel claimed that he would convert military barracks into schools, that conversion ironically entailed the creation of highly militarized schools such as this one. These photographs show the boys carrying their metal trays for breakfast and assembling to march, military-style, into the dining area. At this time, many of these boys would likely have come from poor, marginal families near the Sierra Maestra. This explains their disheveled appearance and the fact that at least one of them (a black boy) is not wearing shoes. One photograph is captioned: “II. MILITARY FEVER GRIPS CUBA. Barracks-type drill discipline is applied to all but the youngest children in Castro’s Cuba. Here peasant boys recruited from the Sierra Maestra region are shown in front of a school center, partly completed (right) but largely still under construction (left and right rear.) This school center, a surprisingly large and modern construction project among the roadless Sierra Maestra foothills (the nearest settlement is tiny El Cerro, and the nearest town of any size, Manzanillo, is a hundred miles away) will eventually house 20,000 farm children. The boys shown here, part of the first contingent of 500 already living and studying at the school center, spend their day under supervision of Cuban rebel army drill instructors, and - under Communist Chinese pattern the Cuban Army appears to be imposing on rural education - only half their day is spent in school; half is spent in work out among the canebrakes.”
Found in:: Manuscripts and Archives > Andrew St. George papers (MS 1912) > Series II: Photographs > Cuba > Cuban Revolution and aftermath > School boys at the newly constructed school at the former Moncada military barracks in Oriente

24. Soviet Vice Premier Anastas Mikoyan visit to Havana

Creator:: From the Collection: St. George, Andrew, 1924-2001
Published / Created:: 1960 February
Call Number:: MS 1912
Container / Volume:: Box 46, folder 5
Image Count:: 6
Description:: These images document the visit of Vice Premier Anastas Mikoyan to Cuba in February 1960. Ostensibly, Mikoyan was there to inaugurate the traveling exhibit of Soviet culture and products that would be held at the Museo de Bellas Artes in Havana. Also included are photographs of a student protest held in Central Park shortly after Mikoyan deposited an imperial-looking floral wreath with Soviet bloc symbols at the foot of the monument to Cuban nationalist leader José Martí. Other images show the lavish state reception Prime Minister Fidel Castro and President Osvaldo Dorticós held at the Presidential Palace to honor Mikoyan on the day of his arrival; Mikoyan at the airport; and members of the Soviet security detail as they kept watch during the reception at the Presidential Palace. One of the photographs is from an issue of Life magazine.
Found in:: Manuscripts and Archives > Andrew St. George papers (MS 1912) > Series II: Photographs > Cuba > Cuban Revolution and aftermath > Soviet Vice Premier Anastas Mikoyan visit to Havana

25. Surveillance photographs, counter-revolutionary violence, police checkpoints, and militarization of Cuba prior to Bay of Pigs invasion

Creator:: From the Collection: St. George, Andrew, 1924-2001
Published / Created:: 1960
Call Number:: MS 1912
Container / Volume:: Box 46, folder 12
Image Count:: 2
Description:: In this series of photographs St. George appears to document the surge in security measures taken by the Cuban government in 1960 as it mobilized to defend against the U.S. invasion at the Bay of Pigs in April 1961. The photographs show snipers posted on the roof of Havana’s airport; a wrecked train and a burned-out bus that appear to have been the products of counter-revolutionary assaults; a plane of the type manned by exile counter-revolutionary forces in their regular invasions of Cuban airspace (this one appears to have either crash landed or been shot down by Cuban defenses); and images of a police check point on the western outskirts of Havana near the San Alejandro Art Academy.
Found in:: Manuscripts and Archives > Andrew St. George papers (MS 1912) > Series II: Photographs > Cuba > Cuban Revolution and aftermath > Surveillance photographs, counter-revolutionary violence, police checkpoints, and militarization of Cuba prior to Bay of Pigs invasion

26. U. S. Ambassador Philip Bonsal addressing ASTA convention

Creator:: From the Collection: St. George, Andrew, 1924-2001
Published / Created:: 1959 October 2
Call Number:: MS 1912
Container / Volume:: Box 42, folder 13
Image Count:: 2
Description:: The photographs document U.S. Ambassador Philip W. Bonsal addressing a convention of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) delegates in Habana’s Blanquita Theatre on October 21, 1959. The convention was sponsored entirely by the revolutionary government that hoped to ignite Americans’ interest in traveling to Cuba. The revolutionary government also wanted to thwart U.S. press and governmental caricatured depictions of the Revolution as “Communist,” a charge consistently levied since January 1959 in an effort to discredit all changes in Cuba that would negatively impact U.S. business interests.
Found in:: Manuscripts and Archives > Andrew St. George papers (MS 1912) > Series II: Photographs > Cuba > Cuban Revolution and aftermath > U. S. Ambassador Philip Bonsal addressing ASTA convention