Voice of the Cuban Revolution: Carlos Franqui

In 2007, the Cuban-American Undergraduate Student Association (CAUSA...www.harvardcausa.org) was able to bring Carlos Franqui to campus to have a discussion on the Cuban Revolution with one of the few outside of Cuba who actually lived it and fought alongside Fidel Castro. We have read parts of the Diary of the Cuban Revolution in the course. He spoke to about 80 undergraduates and members of the community in the CGIS Belfer Case Study Room.

(Franqui pictured in CGIS, with former HS B-64 TF Alfie Ulloa)

This was the blurb that introduced him:

“Born on a sugar cane plantation, Carlos Franqui rose through the ranks of the Communist Party in the years before the Cuban Revolution. He fought alongside Fidel Castro in the Sierra Maestra as his chief journalist, writing for the newspaper Revolución and organizing Radio Rebelde. In 1968, disillusioned with Castro's regime, he defected to Italy. A prolific writer and advocate of free expression, he has published numerous books, including Diary of the Cuban Revolution, one of the most authoritative collections of documents from the Revolution. He currently lives in Puerto Rico where he founded Carta de Cuba which features works by independent journalists on the island. “

Franqui is now in his late 80’s, and he resides with his wife and children in Puerto Rico. His background as an active participant in the Revolution has meant that Miami’s exiles have never fully embraced him. However, his intellectual openness and demands for civil liberties made him fall out of favor with the Castro regime.

After he left Cuba, he was actually erased from many records of the revolution, most notably, from this picture where he appeared with Fidel. (click image to see the picture with Franqui in it)

In response to this editing, Franqui wrote a poem:

“Descubro mi muerte fotográfica.

Qué existo?

Estoy un poco de negro,

Estoy un poco de blanco,

Yo soy un poco de mierda,

El chaleco de Fidel.”

I discover my photographic death.

Do I exist?


I am a little black,


I am a little white,


I am a little shit,


On Fidel's vest.

He recently wrote an interesting book entitled “Cuba, la revolucion, mito o realidad? Memorias de un fantasma socialista” (Cuba, the Revolution, Myth or Reality? Memories of a Socialist Ghost), which talks about some of the failed promises of the regime and prospects for improvment. He also founded Carta de Cuba (www.cartadecuba.org), a newsletter that publishes the writings of independent journalists and dissidents on the island.