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 14
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 3, folder 215-216
Image Count:
2
Description:
These prints focus exclusively on family members of the victims of Batista's state terror as they testify against Captain Jesús Sosa Blanco at his internationally televised public trial held on January 14, 1959, in Havana's Stadium. The trial formed part of "Operation Truth," a campaign to convince foreign journalists and United States officials who rebuked the tribunals and executions that they were not only justified, but legitimate because of overwhelming public support. See also Prints 69-75, 81-89.
From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Published / Created:
1959 January 14
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 3, folder 214
Image Count:
1
Description:
These images document the first internationally televised trial by revolutionary tribunal of Jesús Sosa Blanco, the captain of the military and intelligence force of the city of Holguín under Batista, who had earned a grisly reputation for making civilians disappear and torturing prisoners. The trial formed part of "Operation Truth" and took place on January 14, 1959, at Havana's national sports stadium, selected because it had the greatest number of seats. In this print, a small child is seen testifying (frames 8-10, 13), as well as an elderly woman (frames 26-28). The mass number of press photographers is apparent in frames 14-25 and the defendant himself can be seen with hands cuffed, surrounded by armed rebel guards in frames 21-23. See also Prints 69-75, 81-88, 90-91.
From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Published / Created:
1959 January 14
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 3, folder 213
Image Count:
1
Description:
These images document the first internationally televised trial by revolutionary tribunal of Jesús Sosa Blanco, the captain of the military and intelligence force of the city of Holguín under Batista who had earned a grisly reputation for making civilians disappear and torturing prisoners. Top frames show a young man wearing a checkered shirt pointing as he testifies to the horrors committed by Jesús Sosa Blanco against a relative during the Batista years. The second row of images features two frames (9-10) in which the boy is being restrained from assaulting the defendant by several members of Castro's guerrillas. Frames 13-15 show a reporter talking to Fidel Castro's son, Fidelito, as he observes the public trials of batistianos. Frames 11-12 show Raúl Chibás with two unidentified guerrillas as they preside over the trial. The trial formed part of "Operation Truth" and took place at Havana's national sports stadium, selected because it had the greatest number of seats. See also Prints 69-75, 81-87, 89-91.
From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Published / Created:
1959 January 14
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 3, folder 212
Image Count:
1
Description:
Flown in from Oriente Province at the government's behest, family members of Jesús Sosa Blanco's victims are seen as they testify before the accused in public trial at Havana's national sports stadium on January 14, 1959. The stadium was selected as the location for the event because it had the greatest number of seats. Several of these witnesses are shown pointing to the men being held by guerrilla rebels and identifying them as their relatives' murderers. See also Prints 69-75, 81-86, 88-91.
From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Published / Created:
1959 January 14
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 3, folder 211
Image Count:
2
Description:
Flown in from Oriente Province at the government's behest, family members of Jesús Sosa Blanco's victims are seen as they testify before the accused in public trial at Havana's national sports stadium on January 14, 1959. The stadium was selected as the location for the event because it had the greatest number of seats. Several of these witnesses are shown pointing to the men being held by guerrilla rebels and identifying them as their relatives' murderers. Frames 31-33 show a particularly elderly woman with head scarf as she testifies before microphones. See also Prints 69-75, 81-85, 87-91.
From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Published / Created:
1959 January 14
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 3, folder 210
Image Count:
1
Description:
Flown in from Oriente Province at the government's behest, family members of Jesús Sosa Blanco's victims are seen as they testify before the accused in public trial at Havana's national sports stadium on January 14, 1959. The stadium was selected as the location for the event because it had the greatest number of seats. Several of these witnesses are shown pointing to the men being held by guerrilla rebels and identifying them as their relatives' murderers. Frames 17-20 depict the entrance to the national sports arena as cars gather and people make their way inside. Frame 21 shows two women wearing black and holding a photograph and long newspaper article detailing the horrors of their relative's murder at the hands of Batista's police forces. The same women appear in images with much better lighting on Print 86, frames 17-20. See also Prints 69-75, 81-84, 86-91.
From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Published / Created:
1959 January 14
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 3, folder 208-209
Image Count:
2
Description:
Captain Jesús Sosa Blanco, commander of Batista's military garrison in Holguín, stands handcuffed before his accusers in public trial and attempts to defend himself before the microphone. Sosa Blanco famously asked for clemency while ridiculing the trial, saying that he felt like a Christian in Roman times being thrown into a den of lions. This trial was held January 14th, 1959, at Havana's National Stadium. See also Prints 69-75, 81-82, 85-91.
From the Collection: Yale University. Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Published / Created:
1959 January 14
Call Number:
MS 650
Container / Volume:
Box 3, folder 206-207
Image Count:
2
Description:
Overview shots of the public trials of Batistiano officials held in Havana's National Stadium. This trial in particular was held on January 14, 1959, before 18,000 spectators and members of the international press corps. The man tried was Captain Jesús Sosa Blanco, commander of the military garrison in Holguín, Oriente Province, and one of the most despised batistiano officials on the island. Calling the plan "Operation Truth," Fidel Castro had personally invited members of the international press to witness the trials and come to Cuba at the revolutionary government's expense. Operation Truth was launched earlier that week with the mass rally in support of the executions and trials of Batista's agents, largely considered war criminals and torturers by the public, depicted in Prints 69-75. The trials were the subject of an intense United States-led campaign to discredit the Cuban revolutionary government, but were immensely popular among Cubans. Fidel Castro and other members of the guerrilla movement presided over the trials; witnesses present included family members of Cubans who had been captured, tortured and had disappeared at the hands of the very men being tried. See also Prints 69-75, 83, 84, 85 and 86.