From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Published / Created:
1958 July
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 2, folder 133
Image Count:
2
Description:
Images of the exterior and interior of a rebel safe house, probably in Raúl Castro's Second Front "Frank País," near Banes, Oriente. In frames 8-16, young girls and rebels are seen gathered around a table, apparently playing cards and drinking bottles of soda pop. St. George took these photographs while covering the capture and release of U.S. hostages by Raúl Castro's forces forLifemagazine. See also Prints 1-7.
From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Published / Created:
1959 January 1
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 2, folder 134
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. Among the dignitaries who lent support on that day was the Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, Enrique Pérez Serante (frames 9-10). To the right of Fidel Castro in frames 33-36 (wearing glasses, bearded) is the longtime rebel underground leader for Manzanillo, Felipe Guerra Matos. See also Prints 20, 22, 31, 32, 39 and 41.
From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Published / Created:
1958 July
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 2, folder 126-130
Image Count:
8
Description:
These prints document the arrival of large number of reporters (Prints 1-2) to the Second Front "Frank País," opened in the spring of 1958 by Raúl Castro and his large number of rebel troops in the area near Banes, Oriente, where the largest number of United States-owned properties were concentrated. The reporters were visiting on the occasion of the first direct negotiations between representatives of the United States government's consular office in Santiago de Cuba and members of the 26th of July Movement. Their meeting, as seen in Prints 3-5, was arranged in response to the seizure of forty-eight hostages, including twenty-eight marines, by Raúl Castro's forces in protest of the United States' continued supplying of Batista's air force with military weaponry, including napalm and other materials. Batista's pilots had flown over one hundred missions in the area, bombing exclusively civilian rather than guerrilla targets as part of a counterinsurgency campaign he called "Total War." Print no. 4 shows the reporters, including CBS newsman Robert Taber (frame 15, hatless man on the left), taking off from the United States naval base at Guantánamo and flying over the area. Print No. 5 shows Vilma Espín (frames 18-20) apparently showing off her shooting skills with an automatic weapon, as well as Raúl Castro (in cowboy hat) with reporters and U.S. consular agents (frames 4-12). See also Prints 6 and 7.
From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Published / Created:
1959 January
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 3, folder 240-245
Image Count:
6
Description:
The former (now abandoned) estate of dictator Fulgencio Batista. In addition to the fabulous wealth and grandeur of the furnishings displayed in all the prints, Prints 115 and 116 are interesting for another reason: St. George visited the estate in the company of his wife (see Print 115) and his oldest son, who is seen laughing and standing in the niche created by the walls of a fireplace (see frames 20-24 of Print 116). St. George himself is visible in the great mirror hanging over the fireplace. Print 117 features exterior shots of the buildings and grounds (frames 2-16), as well as seating areas on the margins of a central table in frames 12, 29-31. Batista apparently lined a central patio of the house with marble busts of great historical liberators, seen in frame 8 of print 117 and frames 4-7 of Print 120. Print 118 shows the magnificence of Batista's wine cellar, as well as the magnitude of his wife's purse collection in frames 5-18. Frames 10-22 of Print 119 reveal the interior of Batista's personal office; on the wall behind the desk hangs a portrait of Batista himself as he appeared when he first ensured and then betrayed the 1933 Revolution against the first of Cuba's United States-supported dictators, Gerardo Machado. Print 120 also has a number of images of Batista's office (frames 23-25), as well as vistas of the marbled hallways and immaculate former bedchambers of the dictator. St. George provided the Cuban magazine Bohemia with many of these photographs for its early "Liberty Editions," published between mid-January and early February 1959.
From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Published / Created:
1959 January
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 2, folder 149-150
Image Count:
3
Description:
Fidel Castro in a home along the route followed by his victorious motorcade from Oriente to Havana in the first week after the rebel victory in January 1959. Surrounded by rebels, as well as civilian supporters who appear to reside at the home, Fidel is seen granting a television interview to a Cuban reporter (frames 9-17) and signing an autograph for a young adolescent Cuban girl wearing glasses (frames 3-7). Exact location of the event is unknown although it is likely that the home was located along the national highway, perhaps in Camagüey. See also Print 26.
From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Published / Created:
1959 January 1
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 2, folder 156-157
Image Count:
2
Description:
Taken on January 1, 1959, and stamped January 7, 1959, on the reverse side, these prints document 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. See also Prints 9, 20, 22, 39 and 41.
From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Published / Created:
1959 January
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 2, folder 180-181
Image Count:
2
Description:
These prints show Raúl Castro, surrounded by guerrillas, as he delivers his first national radio address after the fall of Batista; the address is apparently being televised from Oriente's central broadcasting station, CMKC, Radio Oriente. See also Prints 57, 58 and 59.
From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Published / Created:
1959 January
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 2, folder 186-189
Image Count:
4
Description:
These prints all relate to one of the first press conferences given by the revolutionary alliance of guerrillas, civilian leaders and members of the Catholic hierarchy at the Havana Hilton shortly after Fidel's victorious entrance into Havana. Print 61 shows an unidentified man wearing civilian clothes as he is being interviewed; the print includes a slightly out-of-focus picture of Andrew St. George, probably taken by himself to test the camera. Print 62 shows Fidel sitting with a panel of officials as they are greeted by admiring citizens at the Havana Hilton, probably moments before the press conference. Prints 63 and 64 show the press conference itself. Sitting to Fidel's immediate right is the Archbishop of Havana (see especially frames 16-19). They are joined by a number of other unidentified men in business suits. In both Prints 63 and 64, reporters are seen approaching the panel with a microphone and asking their questions at close range, apparently so that they could be filmed in the same shot as Fidel Castro for television.
From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Published / Created:
1959 January
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 2, folder 191-192
Image Count:
2
Description:
These prints document Fidel Castro's speech in an outside auditorium, probably in the city of Santa Clara, one of his last stops on the way to declaring a rebel victory in Havana. Frames 32-26 show closeup shots of a stage that is draped by the Cuban flag and two painted posters, one of Fidel and the other of a generic barbudo. In between these images is a small banner that reads: "Cadena Occidental de Radio."