Reply #47: Some Roberto Salas photos for the mix... Fidel in New York in 1959, more..

[Say_What]

I have Salas's book Fidel's Cuba with these and many more photos. His work, like Korda's, is superb.


CASTRO IN NEW YORK, APRIL 1959
Fidel stayed at the Statler Hilton, the old Hotel Pennsylvania, right across from Penn Station. He went out onto a balcony to wave to the cheering Cuban-American crowd assembled below. That balcony is still there and the flagpole is still there. He was 31, and he looks so young and enthusiastic. It makes you think how differently things might have turned out.



MOUNT VERNON, APRIL 1959
We came to the United States with an entourage of about 50 people. Fidel saw Vice President Richard Nixon and, before taking the train from Washington to New York, we went to Mount Vernon. He started looking at the books - he was interested in everything about United States history. This is a vintage print, the only one I have. The negative doesn't exist any more.


CHE GUEVARA AND FIDEL CASTRO, JANUARY 1959
This is very dear to me because it's the first picture I took of Che. It was at the Palace of the Revolution in Havana, about the second week. The picture has a strange atmosphere because it's a time exposure, two or three seconds. The whole illumination is from the match when Fidel lit the cigar.
- Comments by Roberto Salas

On edit. Added photo of Korda, Salas (left and center), and Raul Corrales