Carlos Franqui (born 1921) is a
CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is...
n writer, poet, journalist, art critic, and political activist.
Born in a cane field, he was able to enter a
vocational schoolA vocational school , providing vocational education, is a school in which students are taught the skills needed to perform a particular job...
, where he joined the
Communist Party of CubaThe Communist Party of Cuba is currently the governing political party in Cuba. It is a Marxist-Leninist organization. The present Cuban constitution ascribes the role of the Party to be the "leading force of society and of the state"...
. He gave up the opportunity to enter the
University of HavanaThe University of Havana or UH is a university located in the Vedado district of Havana, Cuba. Founded in 1728, the University of Havana is the oldest university in Cuba and one of the first to be founded in the Americas...
to become a professional organizer for the party at the age of 20. After successfully organizing the party in several small towns, he broke with the organization and became an unaffiliated leftist.
He turned to journalism to make a living, where his voracious reading provided him with a much better education than he would have received in the university.
Carlos Franqui (born 1921) is a
CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is...
n writer, poet, journalist, art critic, and political activist.
Early years
Born in a cane field, he was able to enter a
vocational schoolA vocational school , providing vocational education, is a school in which students are taught the skills needed to perform a particular job...
, where he joined the
Communist Party of CubaThe Communist Party of Cuba is currently the governing political party in Cuba. It is a Marxist-Leninist organization. The present Cuban constitution ascribes the role of the Party to be the "leading force of society and of the state"...
. He gave up the opportunity to enter the
University of HavanaThe University of Havana or UH is a university located in the Vedado district of Havana, Cuba. Founded in 1728, the University of Havana is the oldest university in Cuba and one of the first to be founded in the Americas...
to become a professional organizer for the party at the age of 20. After successfully organizing the party in several small towns, he broke with the organization and became an unaffiliated leftist.
He turned to journalism to make a living, where his voracious reading provided him with a much better education than he would have received in the university. During this time Franqui became involved in several literary and artistic movements and developed friendships with Cuban artists, including writer
Guillermo Cabrera InfanteGuillermo Cabrera Infante was a Cuban novelist, essayist, translator, and critic; in the 1950s he used the pseudonym G. Caín....
and painter
Wifredo LamWifredo Óscar de la Concepción Lam y Castilla , better known as Wifredo Lam, was a Cuban artist who sought to portray and revive the enduring Afro-Cuban spirit and culture...
.
Role in the Cuban revolution
Franqui broke ranks with the Cuban Communist Party in the late 1940s, but he remained an unaffiliated leftist. After the
Fulgencio BatistaFulgencio Batista y Zaldívar was a Cuban general, President, and U.S.-backed dictator. He served as the leader of Cuba from 1933-1944, and 1952-1959, before being overthrown as a result of the Cuban Revolution.-Early life:...
coup in 1952, he became involved with the "
Movimiento 26 de JulioThe 26th of July Movement was the revolutionary organization planned and led by Fidel Castro that in 1959 overthrew the Fulgencio Batista government in Cuba...
" which was directed by
Fidel CastroFidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban politician, one of the primary leaders of the Cuban Revolution, the Prime Minister of Cuba from February 1959 to December 1976, and then the President of the Council of State of Cuba until his resignation from the office in February 2008...
. His contribution to the movement included co-editing the underground newspaper
Revolución in Havana, for which he was in charge of public information. One article in particular reported the landing of the
GranmaGranma may refer to:*Slang for grandmother*Granma , a yacht in which Fidel Castro and his revolutionary expedition sailed to Cuba in 1956*Granma , the official newspaper of the Cuban Communist Party...
and the confirmation of Fidel Castro's safety in the Sierra Maestra. He was jailed and tortured by the police. On his release, he went into exile in Mexico and
FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
, but was soon drafted by Castro into the Sierra Maestra to continue work on
Revolución, the guerrilla movement's clandestine newspaper and
Radio RebeldeRadio Rebelde is a Cuban Spanish-language radio station. It broadcasts 24 hours a day with a varied program of national and international music hits of the moment, news reports and live sport events...
, their clandestine radio station. See his book of published interviews, letters and personal thoughts in his "Diary of the Cuban Revolution". NY: The Viking Press, 1980.
Upon the success of the
Cuban RevolutionThe Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt that led to the overthrow of U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista of Cuba on January 1, 1959 by the 26th of July Movement led by Fidel Castro....
in 1959, he was placed in charge of
Revolución, which became an official paper. During his tenure as editor, he maintained adegree of independence from the official line and emphasized the arts and literature, starting the literary supplement "Lunes de Revolución", which was directed by
Guillermo Cabrera InfanteGuillermo Cabrera Infante was a Cuban novelist, essayist, translator, and critic; in the 1950s he used the pseudonym G. Caín....
and where high quality work by Cuban and international authors was featured. His position allowed him to travel extensively outside of Cuba. . During his European travels, he met artists and intellectuals, such as
Pablo PicassoPablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso was a Spanish painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. Commonly known simply as Picasso, he is one of the most recognized figures in 20th-century art...
,
Miró-Companies:*Miro Technologies, an MRO supplier from California*Miro Company, a French game manufacturer-In entertainment:*Miromusic, electronic dance band original from Denmark*Giardini di Mirò, an Italian rock group...
,
CalderAlexander Calder , also known as Sandy Calder, was an American sculptor and artist most famous for inventing the mobile. In addition to mobile and stabile sculpture, Alexander Calder also created paintings, lithographs, toys, tapestry and jewelry.-Childhood:Born in Lawnton, Pennsylvania, on July...
,
Jean-Paul SartreJean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy and Existentialism, and his work continues to influence further...
,
Simone de BeauvoirSimone de Beauvoir was a French writer, existentialist philosopher, feminist, and social theorist. She wrote novels, monographs on philosophy, politics, and social issues, essays, biographies, and an autobiography in several volumes...
,
Julio CortázarJulio Cortázar, born Jules Florencio Cortázar, was an Argentine author of novels and short stories...
and many others. A significant number of these artists traveled to Cuba. One of the most memorable visits was that of Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, which is recounted in the above book.
Due to his critical attitude, Franqui had frequent disagreements with the government, which eventually led to his resignation from "Revolución". The paper was closed a few months later. After his resignation, Franqui dedicated himself to art, organizing the famous "Salón de Mayo" exhibit in
HavanaHavana is the capital city, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city is one of the 14 Cuban provinces. The city/province has 2.4 million inhabitants, and the urban area over 3.7 million, making Havana the largest city in both Cuba and the Caribbean region...
(1967), where all leading artists in the world were represented.
Exile from Cuba
Because of his
dissidentA dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
attitude, he continued to have problems with the Cuban government. Eventually, he was allowed to leave Cuba with his family and settled in Italy as an unpaid cultural representative of Cuba. In 1968, he officially broke with the Cuban government when he signed a letter condemning the
SovietThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
invasion of
CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
.
After his definitive
exileExile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened by prison or death upon return...
, his literary production markedly increased. He has written several major historical accounts of the Cuban Revolution ("El Libro de los Doce", "Diario de la Revolución Cubana"). Another facet of his production are a number of poetry and graphic arts collections (for which he has collaborated with Miró, Tapies, Calder and others), several books of poetry, as well as several narrative works on art (some edited in Italian under pen names).
He has continued to campaign against repression in Cuba and other countries. He is officially branded as a traitor by the Cuban government, which accuses him of
CIAThe Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government.It is an independent agency responsible for providing national security intelligence to senior United States policymakers....
ties. Also, many
Cuban exileThe term "Cuban exile" refers to the many Cubans who have sought alternative political or economic conditions outside the island, dating back to the Ten Years' War and the struggle for Cuban independence during the 19th century...
s shun Franqui because of his active role in the Cuban revolution.
In the early 1990s he moved to
Puerto RicoPuerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is a self-governing unincorporated territory of the United States located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands...
, where he lives in semi-retirement. In 1996, he founded
Carta de CubaCarta de Cuba is an international magazine featuring work by independent Cuban journalists . The director of the publication is Jose Rivero Garcia, one of the leading Cuban dissident intellectuals during the 1980s and 1990s...
, a quarterly journal featuring high-quality work produced in Cuba by independent journalists and writers. Franqui continues to edit the publication to this date.
Erased from Cuba
After breaking relations with Cuba the Cuban government began erasing Franqui's image from the country's revolutionary history. In the above image of Fidel making a broadcast Franqui was airbrushed out. Upon learning of his erasure Franqui had this to say: