Haydee Santamaria, and: Marianas in Combat: Tete Puebla and the Mariana Grajales Women's Platoon in Cuba's Revolutionary War, 1956-58 (review)

Abstract

Betsy Maclean, ed. Haydee Santamaria. New York: Ocean Press, 2003; and Mary-Alice Waters, ed. Marianas in Combat: Tete Puebla and the Mariana Grajales Women's Platoon in Cuba's Revolutionary War, 1956-58. New York: Pathfinder Press, 2003.101 pp.Before Cuba's national pantheon of revolutionary heroes and heroines became powerful government officials and international icons, they were a diverse group of exceptionally motivated young people determined to make a change. The romance of the early revolutionary years is undeniable and continues to captivate scholars and students alike. While the exhaustive documentation of the triumphs and tribulations of Cuba's male heroes is a perennial favorite among Hollywood movie moguls and blockbuster publishing houses, considerably less attention has been given to the Cuban women who made the fateful decision to take up arms. Two new biographies of highly accomplished Cuban women who remain relatively unknown internationally take us one step further in the process of building up a history of women's revolutionary experiences. Both Haydee Santamaria and Tete Puebla offer unique insights into the Cuban revolution and postrevolutionary society from their perspective as women and as key contributors to the process that radically altered the trajectory of their nation's history.In her concise edited volume, Haydee Santamaria, Betsy Maclean weaves together a tapestry of memory texts - interviews, poetry, speeches, and personal correspondence - that shed light on one of Cuba's most beloved and enigmatic revolutionary heroines. Following a brief introduction in which Maclean traces the general trajectory of Haydee Santamaria's life from her birth in 1922 to her tragic suicide in 1980, the reader enters a two-part discussion of her specific contributions to the revolutionary cause. Bearing the evocative titles Fire and Light, the book's two sections consist of interviews with Santamaria and testimony from those who knew her best. With her signature humility, Santamaria recounts the multiple roles she played in the revolution from printing and distributing the revolutionary movement's first ideological platform, History Will Absolve Me, to establishing the preeminent Latin American cultural institution, the Casa de las Americas. Though she openly embraced her official state responsibilities as a member of the National Directorate of the United Party of the Socialist Revolution, Santamaria was perhaps most proud of her role as an indefatigable promoter of Cuban writers, artists, and musicians like famed Nueva Trova singer, Silvio Rodriguez. To her companeros and admirers, Yeye was a woman of exceptional warmth and revolutionary conviction who lived at the crossroads of poetry and pragmatism, hope and sorrow, life and death. Santamaria's tragic suicide - precipitated by the violent murder of her brother in 1953 and later amplified by a devastating car accident that left her in chronic pain during her final years -has been particularly difficult for many Cubans to assimilate into her heroic life story. Maclean and her collaborators address the lingering sorrow surrounding Santamaria's untimely death with great sensitivity and respect. Despite a regrettable lack of visual materials - Maclean provides only a brief chronology of key events discussed in the text - students will connect to this compelling story of a woman who stands as a perpetual reminder of the youthful idealism and enduring dedication of Cuba's revolutionary vanguard. …