Cuba – Hi Fidelity

18thumb.JPGAs Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, 80, convalesces in hospital following surgery for internal bleeding brought on by his gruelling work schedule over recent months, Polo’s Bastards presents a photographic testament to the man whose term has outlasted nine US Presidents.

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Disinterested pedestrians going past a portrait of Fidel in an abandoned shop.
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According to the sign in a print shop Fidel believes “ideas are worth more than weapons”.
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Portraits of Cuban independence leader Jose Marti and Fidel at an intersection in Havana. According to Castro “Ideas illuminate the world”.
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Graffiti commemorating Fidel and the 26th of July (date of his original uprising in 1953 against the pro-American Batista regime).
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A bulletin board in central Havana features news and photos relating to some of the day’s major political themes. A protest in front of the American Interests Section in Cuba which supposedly drew more than a million denizens, Fidel and his newest regional ally, Bolivian President Evo Morales and the five Cuban-Americans being held in U.S. Federal prisons after being convicted of espionage on behalf of Castro’s regime.
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A road sign on the island’s main highway commemorates the CDR’s (Committees in Defense of the Revolution) which maintain Castro’s grass roots level appeal by organizing various pro-revolutionary activities (including espionage!) in every neighborhood on the island-notice the machete and the motto on it stating “on high alert.” Another of Fidel’s proclamations is included;”the genius is in the masses, the genius is massive”.
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A poster in a Havana pharmacy celebrating the 47th anniversary of the revolution while declaring: “47 years of sovereignty, dignity, independence, liberty, battle, patriotism, hope and revolution”.
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A young man wearing a t-shirt featuring Fidel and his staunchest regional ally Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
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Typical Cuban Post Office.
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A classic image of Fidel’s early days on display in front of a residential window.
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Billboard commemorating the 47th anniversary of the revolution along with an image of Fidel and one of his iconic fallen comrades; Camilo Cienfuegos.
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For those Cuban households with a TV set Fidel is an oft-invited guest!
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A mural for the revolution’s most famous fallen soldier; Ernesto “Che” Guevara. An encomium from Fidel praises him as a “man of ideas and action”.
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A granite sculpture in honor of Fidel and his socialist revolution.
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Colorful painting in Havana’s main bus terminal glorifying Marti and the revolutionary struggle of the 1950’s.
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A photo from 1962 (and on display in Havana’s museum of the revolution) showing Fidel partaking in Cuba’s national pastime of baseball.
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Poster with a caption of “Hail Cesar, we who are about to die salute you!” while showing Fidel hoisting an AK-47 at an anti-American rally.
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Photographs by Arya Kazemi.

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