The Man In Havana - part 1

Osvaldo Salas is acknowledged as having been one of the world's best news photographers, yet he is by no means one of the best known. For over 30 years he lived in Cuba, where many of his nest-known photos were taken. Taking advantage of the news photographers' greatest ally - chance - he was in the right place at the right time to take the photos that gave the world many of its best-known pictures of the heroes of the Cuban Revolution - Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos.

Salas, who emigrated from Cuba to the United States with his parents, brother and sister some 30 years before, was, in the mid-1950s, a successful sports photographer. His studio was across the street from the old Madison Square Garden on Eighth Avenue, New York. Many famous boxers, including Sugar Ray Robinson, Archie Moore and Rocky Marciano called there either to have publicity shots taken or just chat to the ever-amiable Salas. Cuban journalists visiting New York were also frequent callers at the studio.

So it was no surprise to Salas one afternoon in the autumn of 1956 that he was visited by Vincente Cuvillas, an old friend who had worked for the Cuban magazine, Bohemia. With him, Cuvillas brought several Cuban exiles that were members of a revolutionary group. Salas was asked to take some pictures of the men and their leader, one Fidel Castro. He did so readily, although, as he said: 'At the time, I didn't know who Fidel Castro was. I'd never seen him before. He just came into my studio; we talked and he asked me if I knew a lot of sportswriters. He was a regular kind of guy.'

A few days later, Castro returned to the studio. this time there was more talk of his 26th July Movement, named after the date in 1953 when he had led the first armed uprising against the dictator Batista - an heroic but unsuccessful attack on the Moncado army garrison in Santiago de Cuba. Salas was impressed: 'When I listened to Fidel, a door opened. It had always been my dream to return permanently to Cuba. Through Fidel, I saw it was possible.'

From then on, Salas's home and studio were regularly used by the 26th July Movement for meetings and fund-raising events. Within four years, Castro's revolution had triumphed, and Salas was living with his wife and family in Cuba, where he achieved his greatest fame. His photos have appeared in magazines and newspapers throughout the world although, as he told me ruefully: 'I'd say that not even 5 percent of my pictures have been paid for outside Cuba.'

Salas received many awards, diplomas and honours, including being acclaimed in 1983 an International Master of Photography by the International Press Association. In the later years of his life, exhibitions of his work were held in Canada, the USSR and many Latin American, European and African countries.

When I visited him several times in his Havana apartment in early 1989, Salas was in his mid-70s and was officially retired. But he was still an active, experimental photographer. As I discovered, his wit was not diminished nor, as I discovered, was his Brooklyn accent that he had retained despite having lived in Spanish-speaking Cuba for over 30 years.

To read the transcript of the interview - Click here

'The Man in Havana' © 1990 & 2003 Sydney Higgins