From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Published / Created:
1959 January
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 2, folder 161
Image Count:
1
Description:
This print shows veteran guerrilla fighter Efigenio Ameijeiras (frame 24) driving a car filled with rebels into the main streets of a provincial city in Oriente where rebel forces will take over the main station of the national police. The top two rows of frames, shot from inside a car, show the delighted and startled faces of civilians as they see and touch for the first time the rebel soldiers (who had long been a source of anxiety and fear as well as empowerment and inspiration). The remaining rows of images show townspeople gathering and pressing in on the rebel vehicles as well as the gate of the police station in the town.
From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Published / Created:
1959 January
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 2, folder 162
Image Count:
1
Description:
Frames 18-37 show Fidel Castro speaking to reporters and others while surrounded by rebel soldiers in the interior of what appears to be a government building at the time of the rebel takeover. Frames 5-17 show rebel officers as they negotiate the terms of surrender with officers of Batista's armed forces in the first day or two after the collapse of the dictator's regime. The location of these images is unknown, although they were probably taken in Santiago, Oriente.
From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Published / Created:
1959 January
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 2, folder 163
Image Count:
2
Description:
This print features key figures of the civilian wing of the 26th of July Movement as they gather on the tarmac and await the arrival of Fidel Castro at Camagüey's Ignacio Agramonte Airport; Fidel took the plane to make up for time lost in traveling by motorcade on his triumphant march to Havana in the first days of January 1959. Frames 5-6 appear to show Roberto Agramonte (bald and corpulent man to the left), the first Minister of Foreign Relations under the first revolutionary government of President Manuel Urrutia and Prime Minister Fidel Castro. Frame 14 shows a guerrilla soldier taking a break and drinking a bottle of Coca-Cola. Frames 15 and 17-20 depict Armando Hart, a key figure in the rebel underground, standing next to his fiancée, Haydée Santamaría, the legendary heroine of Fidel Castro's 1953 assault on the Moncada barracks. See also Print 27.
From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Published / Created:
1959 January 1
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 2, folder 164
Image Count:
1
Description:
Taken on January 1, 1959, and stamped January 7, 1959, on the reverse side, this print documents the first victory speech given by Fidel Castro upon the fall and flight from Cuba of the dictator Fulgencio Batista. Having taken the reins of power in the city of Santiago de Cuba earlier that day, Fidel declared Santiago the temporary capital of the country and spoke for over three hours, well past midnight, to a huge crowd gathered in the city's central plaza. Frames 8-19 feature an unidentified man wearing civilian clothes and leaning against a rifle as he talks to Manzanillo-based guerrilla courier and soldier, Felipe Guerra Matos. See also Prints 9, 20, 22, 31, 32 and 41.
From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Published / Created:
1959 January 1
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 2, folder 165
Image Count:
1
Description:
Together with Prints 43 and 44, this print features images of the rebel takeover of military and police headquarters in the city of Guantánamo, also seen in Film 2 shot by St. George that forms part of the Cuban Collection. Frames 24 and 25 show both a rebel soldier and a batistiano soldier guarding the gate of the city's police station while frames 26-35 show police and soldiers surrendering to rebels by piling their weapons in the middle of the station's courtyard, to the backs of the rebel and batistiano guards. Frames 17-23 show townspeople gathering outside the mammoth military headquarters in the center of the city and final rows of images depict the interior of the same building where officers are handing over authority to the rebels. See also Prints 43 and 44.
From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Published / Created:
1959 January 1
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 2, folder 166
Image Count:
1
Description:
Taken on January 1, 1959, and stamped January 7, 1959, on the reverse side, this print documents the first victory speech given by Fidel Castro upon the fall and flight from Cuba of the dictator Fulgencio Batista. Having taken the reins of power in the city of Santiago de Cuba earlier that day, Fidel declared Santiago the temporary capital of the country and spoke for over three hours, well past midnight, to a huge crowd gathered in the city's central plaza. Frames 36-37 show closeup shots of some members of the crowd who appear jovial and excited. See also Prints 9, 20, 22, 31, 32 and 39.
From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Published / Created:
1959 January 2
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 2, folder 167
Image Count:
1
Description:
Probably taken in the late night, early morning hours of January 1, 1959, during or after Fidel Castro's famous first address to the people of Santiago, these images show at least one military soldier (see man in helmet with back to camera, frame 16), rebel soldiers and local people on the streets and in a tavern. The top three rows of frames show members of Fidel Castro's esolta (see the gray and long-haired rebel in the far right-hand corner of these frames with rifle in hand), as well as local citizens sitting on the front porch of a house beside a homemade shrine to the Virgin of Charity that is lit up by dozens of votive candles.
From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Published / Created:
1959 January 1
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 2, folder 168
Image Count:
1
Description:
Scenes of the rebel takeover of the city of Guantánamo where huge contingents of Batista's military forces were stationed during the course of the two-year civil war. The top two rows of frames show sandbags piled along the parapet wall of the military barracks in the center of Guantánamo, with soldiers surrendering weapons to revolutionary guerrillas beneath. Frames 3-27 are of particular interest because they reveal the Batista military's use of the rooftop of a public secondary school or Instituto de Segunda Enseñanza, of which there were less than two dozen nationwide, as a defensive outpost against possible rebel attacks on the city. None ever came. The building is surrounded by hundreds of civilian onlookers who listen to a hat-wearing rebel perched on the corner of the sandbagged rooftop as he addresses the crowds. Alongside him are not just rebels but batistiano soldiers who are distinguished by their metal helmets. See also Prints 40 and 44.
From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Published / Created:
1959 January 1
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 2, folder 169
Image Count:
3
Description:
Rebel takeover of the city of Guantánamo where huge contingents of Batista's military forces were stationed during the course of the two-year civil war. The top row of frames shows crowds gathered before a public secondary school or Instituto de Segunda Enseñanza, whose roof is still covered with sandbags from the time that it apparently served as a defensive outpost against possible rebel attacks on the city. Frames 18-28 show crowds gathered around the highly unusual, homemade personnel carrier that Batista's forces designed but never used against the guerrillas during the last months of the war. Also significant is the image in frame 32 of a recently surrendered batistiano military officer walking away from the barracks with a suitcase under his arm, a towel around his neck and a metal fighting helmet in hand. See also Prints 40 and 43.
From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Published / Created:
1959 January
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 2, folder 170
Image Count:
1
Description:
This print depicts a government military barracks in the process of being taken over by 26th of July guerrillas who are engaged in confiscating all the available munitions, as well as questioning men who may be Batista's political prisoners through the bars of the prison cells. Because of their dress and general physical state, it is likely that these men were not taken prisoner by the rebels but were already there at the time of the government's military surrender. Although the precise location is not clear, the wall against which two rebel soldiers lean as they keep guard reads "Primera Compañía." The same location is featured in Print 17. See also Print 17.