Conrado Benítez and the 1961 Literacy Campaign: Black Martyrs in the Cuban Revolution

My overall project shows how the post-1959 Cuban revolutionary government highlighted racial conflicts in order to undermine counterrevolutionary movements and solicit support from Afro-Cubans.  Using a variety of sources, including Cuban newspapers, government speeches, and photographs, this research reveals how the new leadership publicly discussed the problems facing people of color, an issue frequently silenced by Cuba’s accepted ideology of racial democracy.  As with any government sponsored project, however, many Afro-Cubans interpreted the new racialized discourse in ways that went beyond official pronouncements.  Thus, I analyze testimonios and oral histories from ordinary Afro-Cubans to uncover the ways people of color contributed to and challenged the new leadership’s claims over racial politics.  

This particular paper examines the parameters of this discourse by focusing on the Literacy Campaign of 1961.  I explore the rhetoric surrounding the death of a black volunteer teacher, Conrado Benítez, to reveal a shift in revolutionary discourses on race. 

A close exploration of the conversations surrounding Benítez’s death reveals how revolutionary leaders resolved national discussions about racism in early 1961.  The martyred Afro-Cuban youth gave all Cubans a means of asserting that they had achieved a raceless nation where blacks, like Benítez, could be seen as the counterparts to other national icons like José Martí and Camilio Cienfuegos. At the same time, the stories used to explain the deaths of Benítez and other black martyrs fashioned lasting impressions about appropriate Afro-Cuban behavior and acceptable black contributions to the revolution.  The emphasis placed on Benítez’s humble background and his loyalty to the revolution celebrated a vision of patriotic blackness that highlighted a particular non-threatening Afro-Cuban citizen, who was both grateful and dependent on the new government.