Lillian Guerra, "Patriots and Traitors in Revolutionary Cuba, 1961-1981" (U Pittsburgh Press, 2023)
About this episode
Lillian Guerra discusses the complexities of patriotism and betrayal in postrevolutionary Cuba as explored in her book.
Authorities in postrevolutionary Cuba worked to establish a binary society in which citizens were either patriots or traitors. This all-or-nothing approach reflected in the familiar slogan “patria o muerte” (fatherland or death) has recently been challenged in protests that have adopted the theme song “patria y vida” (fatherland and life), a collaboration by exiles that, predictably, has been banned in Cuba itself. In Patriots & Traitors in Revolutionary Cuba, 1961-1981 (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2023) Lillian Guerra excavates the rise of a Soviet-advised Communist culture controlled by state institutions and the creation of a multidimensional system of state security whose functions embedded themselves into daily activities and individual consciousness and reinforced these binaries. But despite public performance of patriotism, the life experience of many Cubans was somewhere in between. Guerra explores these in-between spaces and looks at Cuban citizens’ complicity with authoritarianism, leaders’ exploitation of an earnest anti-imperialist nationalism, and the duality of an existence that contains elements of both support and betrayal of a nation and of an ideology. Learn…
People in this episode
Host: Marshall Poe
Guest: Lillian Guerra
Topics covered
- Cuban history
- revolutionary culture
- state security
- nationalism
- authoritarianism
Keywords
- Cuba
- patriotism
- betrayal
- revolution
- nationalism
- state security
- Lillian Guerra
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: University of Pittsburgh Press
Books & works: Patriots and Traitors in Revolutionary Cuba, 1961-1981, patria o muerte, patria y vida
Places: Cuba
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