Photography Exhibit in Santiago de Cuba
Over 50 pictures taken by Spanish photojournalist Enrique Meneses during the revolutionary fight – carried by the Rebel Army in Sierra Maestra – are exhibited here to salute the 56th anniversary of the triumph of the Revolution.
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The display is shown at the first floor of the former City Hall, right in front of Céspedes Park, and it was open in the first hours of 2015, with the presence of political and governmental authorities of Santiago de Cuba.
During the pro-independence war, Meneses traveled to the easternmost mountains of Cuba in late 1957, with the collaboration of revolutionary combatant Vilma Espín Guillois, and he spent nearly eight months with the Rebel Army to make a comprehensive report on the fighters and their main leaders, which was published in three issues of French weekly magazine Paris-Match, in spring 1958.
The Spanish photojournalist, who passed away two years ago in Madrid at the age of 84, had given his personal archive to his compatriot Juan Carlos Moya and he brought the exhibit to Santiago de Cuba.
“No, I’m not a photographer. I’m a curator”, Moya said after attending the artistic gala and the traditional Flag Fiesta (Fiesta a la Bandera) held at Céspedes Park, as well as the opening of the display.
“Enrique Meneses and I were friends, and we were especially close during the last years of his life. I was in love with this country, so I reviewed the archives and, after the request issued by the government in Santiago de Cuba, we started working together to bring the exhibit”, Moya commented and pointed out:
“He never showcased these pictures in Cuba or Spain, just as you see it now. This is the first time that we shed light on his archive related to these events.”
Moya reasserted that Meneses Foundation was interested in showing these heritage pictures, with the support of Santiago de Cuba and the Government of the National.
“I’m returning to Havana in order to fly back to Spain, but the exhibit will stay here for a year, traveling throughout the country. There are nearly 120 pictures, but the display is made up of over 50.”
Lázaro Expósito Canto, a member of the Central Committee of Cuba’s Communist Party (PCC is the Spanish acronym) and the First PCC Secretary in the province visited the exhibition.
The opening was also attended by Jorge Luis Díaz Velásquez, First PCC Secretary in the municipality of Santiago de Cuba, Reinaldo García Zapata and Raúl Fornés Valenciano, presidents (Governor and Mayor) of the provincial and municipal assemblies of the Popular Power, respectively.
