'Culture brings Freedom,' José Marti once vaguely proclaimed. The attempt to make sense of this slogan during the Cuban revolution cost both these outstanding men - Franqui and Infante - their country. One of Fidel Castro's closest comrades in the war against Batista, Carlos Franqui, came down with him from the Sierra as the bearded men took power; for the first five years after 1959 he was, more than any other single person, associated with the explosion of 'revolutionary culture' which amazed and moved Europe and the rebellious young of the Americas. He was the editor of the independent daily paper Revolucion, while Cabrera Infante, already famous as a journalist and novelist, ran the paper's Monday cultural supplement, Lunes.

LRB 4 October 1984 | PDF Download