Rebel Lands of Cuba: The Campesino Struggles of Oriente and Escambray, 1934-1974 PDF
Preview Rebel Lands of Cuba: The Campesino Struggles of Oriente and Escambray, 1934-1974
Rebel Lands of Cuba Rebel Lands of Cuba The Campesino Struggles of Oriente and Escambray, 1934–1974 Joanna Swanger LEXINGTONBOOKS Lanham•Boulder•NewYork•London PublishedbyLexingtonBooks AnimprintofTheRowman&LittlefieldPublishingGroup,Inc. 4501ForbesBoulevard,Suite200,Lanham,Maryland20706 www.rowman.com UnitA,WhitacreMews,26-34StannaryStreet,LondonSE114AB Copyright©2015byLexingtonBooks PortionsoftheplayLaVitrinabyAlbioPazarereprintedwithpermissionofPedro MoralesLópez. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformorbyany electronicormechanicalmeans,includinginformationstorageandretrievalsystems, withoutwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher,exceptbyareviewerwhomayquote passagesinareview. BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationInformationAvailable LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Swanger,Joanna,1968- RebellandsofCuba:thecampesinostrugglesofOrienteandEscambray,1934-1974/Joanna Swanger. p.cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN978-1-4985-0659-5(cloth:alkalinepaper)–ISBN978-1-4985-0660-1(ebook) 1.Peasantuprisings–Cuba–History–20thcentury.2.Government,Resistanceto–Cuba–History–20th century.3.Landtenure–Politicalaspects–Cuba–History–20thcentury.4.Sexrole–Politicalas- pects–Cuba–History–20thcentury.5.Race–Politicalaspects–Cuba–History–20thcentury.6.Region- alism–Cuba–History–20thcentury.7.Oriente(Cuba:Province)–Politicsandgovernment–20thcen- tury.8.EscambrayMountains(Cuba)–Politicsandgovernment–20thcentury.9.Oriente(Cuba: Province)–Ruralconditions.10.EscambrayMountains(Cuba)–Ruralconditions.I.Title. HD1531.C9S932015 972.9106'3–dc23 2015004692 TMThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsofAmerican NationalStandardforInformationSciencesPermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibrary Materials,ANSI/NISOZ39.48-1992. PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction:RebelLandsofCuba:TheCampesinoStrugglesof OrienteandEscambray,1934–1974 ix 1 SettingtheScene:LifeattheLocalLevel,1934–1958 1 2 Guajiro,RedeemeroftheNation:WhiteMasculinityand StateFormation,1934–1952 35 3 OrganizationandCollectiveResistanceinOriente, 1934–1956 77 4 AtomizedLandBattlesinEscambray,1934–1952 115 5 TheInsurrection 147 6 Oriente:TheRevolutionaryShowcase 183 7 Counter-revolutioninEscambray:Interregnumand Reconquest 215 Epilogue:TheGrupoTeatroEscambray 245 SelectBibliography 263 Index 279 AbouttheAuthor 289 v Acknowledgments IexpressmydeepestgratitudetothepersonnelattheArchivoNacional, the Instituto de Historia, and the Biblioteca Nacional “José Martí” in Havana;theUniversidadCentraldeLasVillasinSantaClara;theArchi- vo Histórico Provincial de Cienfuegos; the Archivo Municipal de Trini- dad; and the Archivo Histórico Provincial de Santiago de Cuba. At the ArchivoNacional,JulioLópezinparticularofferedcriticalassistance.At the Instituto de Historia, the support of Hernán Venegas Delgado and Lilián Vizcaíno was absolutely essential, and my work would not have been possible without their abundant generosity. At the Biblioteca Na- cional, Nancy Machado and Lísia Prieto were especially of great help, andthestalwartpresenceofWalterioCarbonellmadeeachdayvibrant.I am also forever indebted to those who welcomed me into their homes: Luis René and Mercedes, and their son Luis Carlos, in Havana; Rosalba andClementeinCienfuegos;NohemiaandHernáninCasilda;Barbarita and William, and their daughter Graciela, and Oneida, Mari, and Frank all in Trinidad; and Yolanda and Juan in Santiago. The compañeras and compañeroswhoofferedothercrucialassistanceduringmytimesinCuba aretoonumeroustoname,andmanyofthemhelpedmeeventhoughwe had never formally met. I also thank the personnel at the Library of CongressinWashington,DC,andtheNationalArchivesinCollegePark, Maryland; the Hoover Institution Archives at Stanford University; and, ofcourse,thepersonnelattheNettieLeeBensonLatinAmericanCollec- tionattheUniversityofTexasatAustin,especiallyMargoGutiérrez. I received funding for the requisite travel to complete the research fromanumberofgenerousentities:theInstituteofLatinAmericanStud- iesattheUniversityofTexasawardedmeaFaculty-SponsoredDisserta- tion Grant and a Social Science Concepts in Area Studies Grant. Special thankstomyteammemberswhoco-authoredthegrantproposalforthe latter of these two grants: Matt Childs, John-Marshall Klein, and Marc McLeod.Dr.RaymondEstepprovidedfundingfortheCastañedaSchol- arship,whichIreceivedatanextremelycrucialpointinmyresearchand withoutwhichIprobablycouldnothavegoneforward.Anequalmeas- ure of gratitude is due to Provost Sheldon Ekland-Olson, then Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, who graciously translated his faith in the Cubanists at the University of Texas into much needed additional fund- ing. vii viii Acknowledgments I thank all the members of my committee: Aline Helg, Kevin Kenny, Sandra Lauderdale Graham, Jonathan Brown, and Sonia Labrador- Rodríguez; as well as Marc McLeod, Jessica Montalvo, John-Marshall Klein, Matt Childs, and Leslie Austin, all of whom read early stages of mywork.SpecialthankstoAline,formakingthisprojectpossibleandfor herconsistentencouragement;toKevin,whosawmethroughmycareer atUTovermanyacupofcoffee;andtoDenniBlum,myfellowtraveler and compañera de cuarto. Mary Helen Quinn, Howard Miller, Dave Bow- man, Kristen Tegtmeier Oertel, Jacqueline Woodfork, and Elliott Young all contributed to making graduate school an intellectually stimulating andgenuinelypleasantexperienceandhelpedmekeepperspectiveanda senseofhumorthroughthemanytribulations. Theworkhaschangedagooddealsinceitsearlystages,andIwould like also to expressspecialgratitudetothosewho havehelpedmemore recently: Neal Baker, Jason Robbins, and José Ignacio Pareja, for library and technical support; Greg Mahler, for support for the project; my stu- dents in Cuban history classes at DePauw University and Earlham Col- lege, especially my most enthusiastic students, Rosalyn Endlich, Alma Raymer,GwenPastel,MarcusWaters-Bonner,andMichaelGottlieb;my editors at Lexington, especially Brighid Klick and Brian Hill; Mercedes Fernández and Francisco Rodríguez, of Teatro El Mirón cubano; Dr. Pe- droMoralesLópez;JoAnnMartin,forbeingatruefriendandanunflag- gingcomradeandencouragingmeonward,always;andaprofounddebt of gratitude to Lillian Guerra in particular, whose comments and cri- tiques were considerately given and appreciatively received. Any errors offactorinterpretationremainsolelymine. Finally, a debt of gratitude to my most intimate base of support over theyears,whichincludes,amongthosealreadynamed:myparents,Eu- geneandCarolyn Swanger;mysiblings,SusanSwanger,RachelSwang- er, and Peter Swanger; Anita Swann and Billie Swann; Caroline Higgins andHowardRichards;GlenKuecker;ErickGarcía;FeritGüven;Jonathan Diskin; Brian Nichols; and my beloved little ones, Greta, Milosa, Simon, Max,andLongJohn.
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