From Martí to Fidel

From Martí to Fidel – the Cuban Revolution and Latin America presents an overview of the revolutionary process in Cuba since the 1930s. In this second edition, political scientist Luiz Alberto Moniz Bandeira has added an analysis of events that occurred after 1998, the date of the first edition, until Fidel Castro's removal from power in 2008. This edition also includes an insert with period photographs. The author highlights the role of Latin American countries, especially Brazil and Mexico, in crucial episodes of the Cuban Revolution, such as the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The work is a reference among the literature on this important period of Latin American history, which is predominantly imbued with the American perspective. To provide a Brazilian perspective on the subject, the author spent two years researching confidential and secret documentation from the Itamaraty Historical Archives from the 1950s and 1960s, as well as other documents from key figures in international politics at the time, such as Francisco Clementino San Tiago Dantas, Minister of Foreign Affairs in the João Goulart administration. During the VIII Meeting of American Foreign Ministers in Punta del Este in 1962, the former minister played a key role in defending Cuba's right to self-determination. Moniz Bandeira contextualizes the Cuban Revolution within other revolutionary movements of the time, such as Peronism in Argentina (1945-1956) and the reformist regime in Guatemala (1944-1954), overthrown by the CIA. According to the author, these and other revolutions that occurred in Latin America shortly before the Cuban revolution are crucial to understanding the Cuban episode. The author argues that the establishment of a communist regime modeled on Eastern European countries was not a reflection of an action by the former USSR, but rather a consequence of US intolerance toward egalitarian public policies implemented on the island, such as agrarian reform. Moniz Bandeira concludes that the radicalization of the Cuban revolution was a defense of the country against the US, which threatened the island's sovereignty, and a way to secure its social gains.