Fidel (and Cuba)--Then and Now

Photo by Tito Alvarez

 from Havana Times, April 9, 2013

 I had the good fortune to host two photo historians from Havana as visiting faculty at our university 7-8 years ago. One who is the archivist at the Fotateca in Havana brought a large number of negatives of Tito Alvarez who was active as a photographer in Cuba during the 1950s and 1960s. I scanned them and cleaned them up as well as I could, negatives do not fare well in the humidity and dirt of Havana especially over fifty years. The portrait of Castro on the left was during an early radio address to the country. The one on the right was in the Havana Times this past Sunday. It is fascinating to see the extended forefinger of the left hand as Fidel makes his point, see the intensity of his facial expression and to notice how carefully the journalist is listening. The point of this post is not to take sides on the Castro-anti-Castro debate but to show he is still alive and seems quite  alert. That makes him a rather amazing person no matter what your political leaning. I have heard several of my older friends (my age) say, "Communista, No! Fidelista, Si!" Many of the older middle class-lower classes  do love him. Change is coming though, and it is definitely overdue.