LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2006 October Grand Format Autographs #629  / 

25377

Fidel Castro: A Historic Interview Signed

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:875.00 USD Estimated At:3,500.00 - 4,500.00 USD
Fidel Castro: A Historic Interview Signed
<B>Fidel Castro: A Historic Interview with the Cuban Revolutionary while Leading the Revolution from the Sierra Maestra Foothills.</B></I> 2 pages, signed on the second page: "<I>Fidel Castro.</B></I>" Manuscript interview drafted with questions for Castro during an interview held with the future dictator while he was leading the Cuban revolution from the Sierra Madre foothills. The historic interview with a European correspondent was held just a few months before Cuban Dictator Fulgencio Batista was ousted. It reads: (in Spanish) "9/1/58. Note for U.P. In an exclusive interview Fidel Castro with Enrique Meneses for "Le Figaro" of Paris, the Rebel leader answers the declarations of January 8. Castro: To who should we give the weapons we have stolen from the military? To the same military we have been fighting for the last year? It would have been better had we taken the weapons that we really need in the first months of the mountain fight. The weapons that we captured from the military will be given back once the possibility of the dictatorship is gone. We don't have any political aspirations because we don't represent any danger of dictatorship. When the armed forces are reorganized and the military dignitaries have them under control; When any possibility of a Military Junta are gone and Batista is no longer a threat, the Revolution of 26 July will return the arms to the armed forces. Q. What do you think of the acceptance of Manuel Urrutia as provisional president? Castro: It would make us very happy that all agree in the Urrutia is the person to preside over the Republic. We will support him whether or not Carlos Prio accepts the definite conditions from the Revolution of 26 July. Carlos Prios no longer counts for anything in Cuba. The revolution is in the hands of a new generation and not in the hands of those who want to chain their destiny to an oppressive past. Q. Do you believe that without the help of the rest of the opposition you will be able to defeat Batista? Castro: It'll take us longer but we will...The days in which the troops come to find us in the mountains will pass. The time they came to look for us is in the pastToday we have to go look for them at Liano. Here it is already more peaceful than in the rest of the Republic. Here, this is 'Free Cuba'." <BR><BR>Castro voices his support for Manuel Urrutia, a judge in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba's second largest city, located next to the Sierra Maestra mountains. Several rebels had been brought before him and he had ordered that they be released. He had become a hero to the revolutionaries. We are quoting the source of this letter, a correspondent during the period, directly in order to provide provenance to prospective buyers; "I spent a great deal of time in Santiago during the revolution, covering the civil war for <I>Time</B></I> magazine. I was in continual contact with the rebel underground in that city. One day I met with a member of the underground. She showed me the sheet of paper, which had been folded a number of times and then smuggled by a courier to Santiago. The underground person told me she had orders to get the paper to 'the press'. Just possessing the paper could have resulted in a death sentence for her. Since I was well known to the rebel movement, she asked if I would take it. Of course I replied affirmatively. I believe I did include part of the document in a story filed to <I>Time.</B></I> The importance was that Castro indicated for the first time who would become president of Cuba once the rebels were victorious." It is interesting that just months before assuming the premiership on February 16, 1959, in this interview Castro states he has no political aspirations. In retrospect, this historic interview offers a significant foreshadowing of the future hypocrisy and deceit to come from the future dictator. The time period at which this interview was conducted along with the highly revealing content offer perhaps one of the finest early, for publication statements from Castro. As such, it remains as a historic artifact of the Cuban revolution. "We don't have any political aspirations because we don't represent any danger of dictatorship...Here, this is 'Free Cuba'." Fine condition.
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