MY-217688 Republic of Cuba - its flag and its hero

Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba (República de Cuba) is an island country in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba comprises the main island of Cuba, the second largest island (Isla de la Juventud) and several archipelagos. Havana is the capital of Cuba and its largest city. The second largest city is Santiago de Cuba.

Cuba was originally a Spanish colony. After the Spanish-American War, Spain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris (1898), by which Spain ceased control of Cuba and ceded other territories to the USA. Cuba gained formal independence from the U.S. on May 20, 1902, as the Republic of Cuba but under Cuba's new constitution, the U.S. retained the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and to supervise its finances and foreign relations. The USA exercised this right of intervention frequently in the years after 1902.

In 1956, Fidel Castro and about 80 other rebels (Che Guevara was one of these) aboard the Granma yacht launched a failed attempt to start a rebellion against the government. It was not until 1958 that the July 26th Movement emerged as the leading revolutionary group.  Since then the country has been run as a Communist country.

Flag of Cuba

The flag of Cuba consists of five blue and white alternating stripes and a red equilateral triangle at the hoist with a white 5-pointed star. It was adopted on June 25, 1848. The three blue stripes represent the three parts that the country was divided during the independence wars, central, occidental, and oriental areas of the country. The two white stripes symbolise the purity of the patriotic cause. The red triangle stands for the blood shed to free the nation, which is placed where the star is, symbolising the sky turned red from the blood shed in battle. The white star in the triangle stands for independence.

Superimposed on the flag of Cuba on this postcard is the ‘Guerrillero Heroico (1960)’ image of Che Guevara. Che Guevara, an Argentinian joined the July 26th Movement and soon rose to prominence among the insurgents. He was promoted to second-in-command, and played a pivotal role in the victorious two-year guerrilla campaign that deposed the Batista regime.  He also was prominent in the government of Fidel Castro.

This postcard came from phoenix (15 August 2014) Postcrossing.