Che Guevara's Face: How a Cuban Photographer's Image Became a Cultural Icon
THE MAN BEHIND THE NEWSPAPER Alberto Korda’s contact sheet from March 5 1960 includes his iconic portrait of Che Guevara Revolución editor Carlos Franqui did not choose Alberto Korda’s photograph of Che Guevara for the March 6 1960 edition of the paper Franqui later explained It was the day after the La Coubre explosion Obviously Castro was the story not Che But Franqui helped make such photos possible Franqui the first editor of the newspaper said he wanted the pages to reflect the spirit of the revolution in a different way than the olive green of Fidel and the rebel army Through Franqui’s connections with artists in Paris new ideas about art traveled to Cuba Cuba’s citizens even those who could not read enjoyed the paper’s bold design and large photographs Its photographers and designers also worked to portray Cuba as friendly and attractive to other countries seeking alliances and trade partners
But as Castro’s government moved toward communism and stricter control of the newspaper it became less tolerant of new ideas Franqui quit in 1963 and left Cuba to live and work in Italy In 1965 the Cuban government shut down three newspapers including Revolución and created its own government-run newspaper Who could have imagined that one day the photograph which Korda called Guerrillero Heroico Heroic Guerrilla would set out on a journey around the globe Who would have expected it to become what has been called the most famous photograph in the world and a symbol of the 20th century
Guerrillero Heroico Heroic Guerrilla would become world famous
Chapter Two STRUGGLING FOR INDEPENDENCE The small island nation of Cuba would seem to have been an unlikely threat to the United States But less than three years after Castro blamed the United States for sabotaging its weapons the world anxiously watched Cuba The island’s government nearly helped start a nuclear war For Cuban leaders in 1960 the La Coubre explosion was proof that powerful countries wanted to control life on the island as they had for centuries At the memorial service Castro said Cuba must defend its territory against enemies enemies who wanted to keep us enslaved and starving Castro’s suspicions were rooted in the troubled history of the nation Spain controlled Cuba for nearly 400 years Christopher Columbus sailed to Cuba’s shores in 1492 and claimed the island for Spain Spaniard Diego Velazquez soon began building a new colony But colonists brutally disrupted the lives of the native Taino peoples who had farmed hunted and fished in Cuba for centuries The Spanish forced the Taino to work for them and to endure cruel treatment Most Taino died either from Spanish weapons or European diseases So the Spanish relied on the work of another group of people who had no freedom Beginning in the early 1500s the Spanish brought enslaved Africans to the island
