Hayde Santamara - Betsy Maclean

Haydee Santamaria led a full and painful life. As one of the female leaders of the Cuban Revolution, she suffered horrible torture in Batista's prisons. After 1959, she established the world-renowned Latin American literary institution, Casa de las Americas. She remained its director for 20 years, providing intellectual and physical refuge for artists and writers in exile from dictatorships. Betsy Maclean has collected both Santamaria's own writings (including her poignant letter to Che on the news of his death) and tributes from others.