The Cuban Revolution: Years of Promise (review)
- The Cuban Revolution: Years of Promise
Although not nearly as photo-documented as the Mexican revolution, which benefited from the prolific reportage of Agustín Victor Casasola, there are numerous images of the Cuban revolution that have since become iconic. What this new collection offers is a dramatic expansion of that photographic repertoire, thanks to the discovery of a hidden trove of images taken by the photographer José 'Chilin' Trutie and discovered by Teo Babún. Trutie was the company photographer for Babún's father, Teofilo 'Tofi' Babún, "an influential industrialist" (p. i) from Santiago who early on provided shelter and covert support for the July 26th rebel movement. In gaining the trust of the rebels, Trutie was given unrestricted access to the movement and "permission to snap pictures of what he saw" (Ibid.).
The result is a fascinating and far-reaching collection of images that will be welcomed by students and historians of the Cuban revolutionary period. Advancing chronologically from the early days of rebel sabotage against the Batista regime to President Kennedy's welcoming back the "heroes of the Bay of Pigs invasion" at the Orange Bowl 1962, the collection includes many poignant as well as more quotidian aspects of the revolutionary—and counterrevolutionary—struggle. A short but thorough narrative of the Cuban revolution, written by the historian Andrés Triay, is stretched out across the book. A particularly useful aspect of the collection is that virtually all of the images are captioned, with many of them identifying specific individuals. [End Page 271]
The circumstances surrounding how these two shoeboxes of photographs came to light are inextricably linked to the drama of Cuba's revolution and counterrevolution: Trutie left Cuba for the United States in 1960, and various members of the Babún family soon thereafter joined the anti-Castro struggle. That Trutie's as well as the younger Babún's access and interest in the revolution was so far reaching provides this collection of images and accompanying text with a refreshing balance and insight.
