“I Have Come to Cuba to Learn, not to Teach”. Dolores Ibárruri’s Trip to Cuba in 1963

Abstract

This article examines Dolores Ibárruri’s visit to Cuba, undertaken in response to a personal invitation extended by Fidel Castro during his trip to Moscow. The chronological scope spans from December 5, 1963 —the date of her arrival in Havana— to January 12, 1964, the date of her departure. Pasionaria’s journey formed part of the initial wave of foreign politicians, writers, and journalists who, captivated by the Cuban experience, ventured across the Atlantic to witness firsthand the construction of socialism in a Spanish-speaking country. Yet behind the multitude of interviews and photographs disseminated by the principal organs of the official Castroist press, the other side of the coin obscured far more complex issues. Specifically, the reaction of the Francoist government, of certain of its diplomatic missions throughout the Americas, and of the
United States itself to the event; the justification offered by Castro to the Spanish chargé d’affaires in Havana; Spain’s stance regarding the visa requests of prominent figures from the anti-Castro Cuban exile; and the image of the “other Cuba,” the oppressed one, coexisting with the Cuba of freedom that Ibárruri saw –or wished to see. The research for this article draws upon a range of Spanish archival materials, as well as bibliographic and hemerographic sources pertinente to the subject.