Two days after Fidel Castro died, Granma, Cuba’s biggest newspaper fronted with a full-page cartoon by “ares” featuring many Fidel Castros and headed Cuba es Fidel (Cuba is Fidel).
Ares’ CUBA POSTCASTRO cartoon used for the “Cuba es Fidel” Granma newspaper cover two days after Castro’s death
Rocío loved the newspaper cover and when she saw an original print at a gallery in Old Havana (Habana Vieja) her interest increased. The original cartoon, captioned CUBA POSTFIDEL, was not created after Fidel’s 25 November 2016 death but in 2008 when Fidel handed over the Cuban presidency to his brother Raúl.
The Havana gallery containing Ares prints
The gallery turned out to have multiple Ares prints featuring The Rolling Stones (created around their landmark 2016 Havana concert) and Barack Obama amongst others. More importantly for Rocío, the gallery had one remaining Ares book. For this she bargained them down from 25 CUC (US$25) to 20 CUC. Rocío appreciated the commentary and aesthetics of Ares’ cartoons and even hoped to interview him.
Rocío holding newspaper with Ares’ cover of Fidel in front of an original print top left and other Ares cartoons
Footnote: Ares, formally Arístides Esteban Hernández Guerrero, is a multi award-winning cartoonist and artist based in Havana. His works are viewable at https://www.areshumour.com.
