Throughout the 20th century revolutionary leaders relied on artistic posters to promote domestic campaigns, celebrate heroes, and criticize political enemies. Lincoln Cushing, author of “Revolucion! Cuban Poster Art”, notes that “From the 1960s through the 1980s, the Cuban government enlisted an exceptionally talented stable of Cuban artists to produce thousands of public posters, which were spread like dandelion seeds across the country.”

Blending vivid imagery, graphic wit, and propaganda slogans, posters have had a powerful and constant presence in the ‘plazas’ of Cuba since the early days of Fidel’s regime. Whether expressing solidarity with movements fighting colonialism, political oppression, racial segregation or different forms of imperialism, Fidel has found creative ways to associate Cuba and his brand of revolution with events on the global stage.

SOURCES: Poster images from Revolucion! Cuban Poster Art (Chronicle Books, 2003) courtesy Lincoln Cushing / Docs Populi, all rights reserved by originating artists; BBC News; Time Magazine; CIA Center for the Study of Intelligence; National Public Radio