Woman guerilla leader in Cuba whose passion for art and revolution inspired Latin America's cultural renaissance. Contributors include Mario Benedetti, Ariel Dorfman, Silvio Rodríguez, Roberto Fernández Retamar and Che Guevara.
Haydée first achieved notoriety by being one of two women who participated in the armed attack by a group of young activists led by Fidel Castro that sparked the Cuban revolution. She was captured and horrifically tortured but on her release joined the underground movement against the Batista dictatorship. Later, as director of the world-renowned literary institution, Casa de las Americas, Haydée embraced culture as a tool for social change and provided refuge for exiled Latin American artists and intellectuals.
Includes Haydée’s spirited letter to her parents from jail, defending her participation in the armed attack and a preface by Haydée’s daughter Celia Maria which deals with her highly controversial suicide in 1980.
“Our worldly happiness could very well have begun in a small apartment, on a small island, on our small planet; and now it is our turn to take care of the sun.” —Haydée Santamaría
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