Exhibition
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This exhibition was held in 2008, from July 22 to August 17, at the Ziegel Oh Lac restaurant in the Rote Fabrik cultural centre, Zürich, Switzerland.
A book of the pictures featured in the exhibition is available for purchase.
In 1965, Che Guevara wrote his “farewell letter” to Fidel Castro formally renouncing his positions in the Cuban government and his honorary Cuban citizenship – he now intended to travel the world for the revolutionary cause. He signed off with the words:
“Hasta la victoria siempre! ¡Patria o Muerte! Te abraza con todo fervor revolucionario.”
“Ever onward to victory! Our country or death! I embrace you with all my revolutionary fervour.”
Two years later, while fighting with Bolivian revolutionary forces he was captured and executed by government troops, sealing his status as a revolutionary martyr and icon, and “Hasta la victoria siempre!” has become synonymous with the Cuban revolution.
49 years after the revolution illness has forced Fidel to step down as President of Cuba, and he has been succeeded by his brother Raul. Foreign corporations are queuing up, building contacts and relationships, waiting for further economic liberalisation. Cuban exiles and others who lost property during the revolution wait to press their claims for compensation.
What does “victory” mean to today’s Cubans? Is the spirit of the revolution still alive? Or are Cubans merely paying lip service while waiting for the old guard to fade away?