From the Collection: St. George, Andrew, 1924-2001
Published / Created:
1957-1958
Call Number:
MS 1912
Container / Volume:
Box 42, folder 4
Image Count:
22
Description:
There are images of guerrillas from Raúl Castro’s column requisitioning vehicles and stopping cars on the highway for the payment of “tolls” in 1958. Also included are images of the temporary takeover of a small village called Matías by guerrillas under the command of blond officer Manuel Boronato. The guerrillas are shown at a small company store, enjoying (for the first time) a juke box, as well as local nighttime activities, such as a vigil held in honor of the Virgin of Charity, with peasants of the region. There is one print of a group of armed rebels listening to a woman playing the piano that was taken in the first week of January 1959 according to note on the back of the print. There is also one print of Batista’s helmeted forces appearing to attack a rebel hideout.
From the Collection: St. George, Andrew, 1924-2001
Published / Created:
1958 October - December
Call Number:
MS 1912
Container / Volume:
Box 42, folder 3
Image Count:
9
Description:
These images document the rebel forces’ policy of taxing the owners of local coffee estates in Oriente on the production and processing of each 100-pound bag of coffee. In one photograph Manuel Boronato, a blonde rebel officer, is shown overseeing the drying of beans, while in another a black officer and a group of armed female guerrillas appear to be involved in the weighing and taxing of each bag. Also included are photographs of a field hospital for treating local peasants and wounded rebels as well as a school for peasant children in a zone liberated by the forces of Raúl Castro in the summer of 1958. Most images were taken between October and December 1958 on St. George’s last trip to Cuba before the triumph of the Revolution in January 1959.
From the Collection: St. George, Andrew, 1924-2001
Published / Created:
1959 March 5
Call Number:
MS 1912
Container / Volume:
Box 42, folder 12
Image Count:
1
Description:
These photographs document U.S. Ambassador Philip W. Bonsal presenting his diplomatic credentials in a formal ceremony to Cuban President Manuel Urrutia and his revolutionary cabinet.
From the Collection: St. George, Andrew, 1924-2001
Published / Created:
1959 May
Call Number:
MS 1912
Container / Volume:
Box 42, folder 19
Image Count:
8
Description:
These photographs focus on Ernest Hemingway with Fidel Castro at Hemingway’s May 1959 fishing tournament. The images include two shots of Mary and Ernest Hemingway in profile as they watch the boats returning with their catches. In one photograph, Castro is pictured holding all the top trophies for having caught the biggest fish. Similar and identical ones are also in Box 8, folder 22.
From the Collection: St. George, Andrew, 1924-2001
Published / Created:
1959 January
Call Number:
MS 1912
Container / Volume:
Box 42, folder 17
Image Count:
1
Description:
This is a photograph of Col. Alberto Bayo, a veteran of the Spanish Civil War. The caption on the verso reads: “The man who initiated Che Guevara into guerrilla warfare, former Spanish (Loyalist) Colonel Alberto Bayo (beard, civilian clothes) is shown here in Havana. Bayo trained Che in Mexico in 1956, went to prison briefly for his pains, then became important figure in new Cuba.”
From the Collection: St. George, Andrew, 1924-2001
Published / Created:
1958
Call Number:
MS 1912
Container / Volume:
Box 46, folder 1
Image Count:
4
Description:
The peasants represented in these photographs are engaged in everyday activities such as winnowing corn, standing in line at a local dry goods store, and horseback riding. These peasants probably lived near the 26th of July columns commanded by Fidel and Raúl Castro. One image shows a typical hamlet of peasant homes in the plains region of Oriente, probably near Raúl Castro’s column outside the highlands in a newly liberated zone when St. George visited his camp. Images date from Fall 1958.
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.”
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.
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.
