Devuélveme la Voz

This recording presents the equality of two symbols. On the one hand, the French Revolution of 1789, one of the items identity of France and starting point of the contemporary age in Europe. And secondly, the Cuban revolution of 1959, which became one of the great myths of the left in Europe during the years 60 and 70. Two revolutionary phenomena that occur as a result of an historical and politically evolutionary line. The French Revolution of 1789 was the great model of liberal or bourgeois revolution (because the bourgeoisie was social class who starred in the movement). This 19th century revolutionary cycle had begun with the war of independence in America at the end of the 18th and lasted until 1848. In a slow, progressive, liberalism prevailed in Europe.

The Cuban revolution happened in a very different context, the second half of the 20th century, in the middle of the polarization of the world into two blocs, the process of decolonization in Asia and Africa, and the movement of non-aligned countries (seeking independence from the two superpowers, USA and the USSR). What happened in Latin America during that time (traditional American influence zone) can be summarized in three phenomena: the populist phenomenon, revolutions, and the experience of Chile.

Cuba was the first successful revolutionary movement. It came against the dictatorial regime of Fulgencio Batista, who had a strong political and economic dependence with the United States. Against this situation created a revolutionary group, led by Fidel Castro and Ernesto Guevara, who started fighting in 1953. It was very heterogeneous, minority. Communists were incorporated but not all were. Little by little, living in the jungle as guerrillas, were getting farmer backing and support of urban Communist groups. Feeling strong, in January 1959 entered Havana and ousted Batista.

Frontal opposition US policy was very unwise in this aspect, when the leaders of the revolution expressed that they only wanted to be independent, without opting for no superpower. The attempted invasion of Bay of pigs was the excuse for Cuba estrechase ties with the USSR. The Cuban revolution was a model in the 1960s for many intellectuals and academics who had been disappointed by the classic Communist parties and saw it as an alternative to dealing with a popular movement and turned it into a myth.

But it was also important to other guerrillas in Latin America, where different experiences appeared guerrilla promoted by Cuba itself. Ernesto Guevara considered that we had to create many revolutionary outbreaks to carry out the profound transformation and they disappeared all the inequalities: "El foquismo". In fact, he died in one of those attempts, in Bolivia. The Cuban initiative came out of the guidelines Soviet, because the Soviet Union admitted that Latin America was the area of direct influence of U.S. and did not show much interest in Cuba, fearing that U.S. could do the same in their areas of domain. So, to some extent, Cuba was autonomous, favoring the guerrillas. But I didn't have the potential to do so, many times received guerrilla training in Cuba, something cheaper, though quite effective.

But the Cuban model was not repeated, the majority of guerrilla movements not could become popular revolution, mainly for two reasons. Firstly, the Cuban movement got support in the cities of the Communists that were there. Also employed nationalist ideas, and others of equal,... that calaban easily in the peasantry. However, the new guerrillas were directly Marxist-Leninist or Maoist, peasants, and strange doctrines their lack of support, from popular support. And secondly, Cuba caught by surprise to us.UU. and their puppet dictator Fulgencio Batista, but after that experience, he already knew how to act: he formed the official armies and trained them in the fight against the guerrillas, which largely explains its failure.

• More sound files on Latin America in Devuélveme la voz

University of Alicante. University Library. Fonoteca