Cuban Comic Books in the 1980s

José Martí (1853-1895), the poet, philosopher, and revolutionary leader who was a key figure in Cuba's War of Independence from Spain, wrote in exile four issues of a children's magazine, La Edad de Oro (The Golden Age) (Wald 251). Recognizing the intellectual autonomy of children, his writings in La Edad de Oro referenced history and culture and included moral tales and poems. Despite his massive influence on the Cuban revolutionary spirit, his dream of a burgeoning Cuban children's literature was stultified by the Batista regime, not to be realized until the Cuban Revolution (1953-1959) (Wald 251). 

Fidel Castro's establisment of a national education system and adult literacy campaign in 1961 led to a flourising in literature of all ages, but especially for children (Wald 252). In 1985, for example, the Unión de Jóvenes Comunistas (Union of Young Communists), based in La Habana, Cuba, published a children's magazine entitled Bijirita and a collection of comic strips published throughout the revolution by Virgilio Martínez Gainza entitled De Pucho a Cucho. 

By offering a deeper look into both of these publications, this section will outline the different political and aesthetic values the Cuban revolutionary class hoped to instill in young people during and after the revolution, highlighting a fundamental form of consciousness-raising within Latin-American Leftist governments.