Haydée Santamaría

My favorite of the Rebel Lives series: This biography of Cuban revolutionary Haydee Santamaria was my favorite volume of Ocean Press's "Rebel Lives" series. More than any other of them, it best accomplishes the goal of introducing an important and interesting -- even inspiring -- figure who is almost completely unknown to English-speaking audiences.

Haydee Santamaria was one of the leaders of the Cuban Revolution of the 1950s, one of only two women to take part in Fidel Castro's ill-fated assault on a government garrison on 26 July 1953. Her brother and fiance both died in the attack, and she herself was jailed. After her release, she rejoined Castro, working undercover for his guerrilla fighters and even travelling to the United States to raise funds and purchase equipment.

Following the victory of the revolution on New Year's Day 1959, Santamaria became director of the Casa de las Americas, a cultural institution that supported Latin American art and literature. By focusing on promoting Latin American culture and assisting victims of persecution by military regimes in the region, she had an unambiguously positive role. Unlike other, better known Cuban revolutionaries such as Castro and Che Guevara, she was not tainted by Cuba's development into a single-party state with serious deficiencies in democracy and human rights.

After a 13 page introduction, chronology and biographical sketch by editor Betsy Maclean, the remaining 110 pages are divided into two sections of roughly equal length. The first, "Fire", consists of a few long interviews with Santamaria and essays by her, about her role in the Cuban revolution and the Casa de las Americas. The second section, "Light", is filled with a large number of short tributes to her (mostly on the occasion of her death in 1980), including contributions from Juan Almeida, Alejandro Obregon, Silvio Rodriguez, and of course Castro and Che.

The image that emerges both from Santamaria's own words and the tributes of her friends and comrades is of a determined, dedicated, profoundly human being, open and kind, but principled and passionate, deeply scarred by tragedy throughout her life, nevertheless continuing on as long as she could. I had never heard of Santamaria before picking up this book, which showed me a truly inspiring figure. By the end I was deeply interested in Maclean's discussion of why "this giant of revolutionary history, this shining example of feminism and internationalism, [has] been relegated to the shadowy corners of Latin American political memory".

Recommended for all those who have not yet heard of Haydee Santamaria, especially teachers interested in obtaining primary sources relating to the Cuban revolution.… (mais)