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The Culture of the Heroic Guerrilla: The Impact of Cuba in the Sixties

1984; Wiley; Volume: 3; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/3338253

1470-9856

Mike González,

Latin American Literature Studies

The symbolism of the Cuban Revolution still pervades Latin America. The face of Guevara still serves as a declaration of revolutionary commitment, and the songs of struggle in contemporary Latin America still focus on the image of 6el fusil justiciero Yet the role of Cuba, and its relations with Latin America, have changed dramatically in the last fifteen years. Whatever Reagan says to the contrary, Cuba no longer exports revolution and it is real politik and survival that guides its current decisions.1 Further, many of Cuba's most febrile defenders of the sixties have long since deserted the cause of revolution (Vargas Liosa, for example, or Carlos Fuentes). Their reasons vary, and their arguments are more often than not reactionary. Yet it is true that the cultural and ideological aspirations enshrined in the symbolism of Che have long since been abandoned in Cuba itself. Thus, if Cuba provided a whole generation with a focus for its anti-imperialism, it also left behind a political legacy which has increasingly become a burden for the revolutionaries that came in its wake. That contradic-