Fidel is Fidel
An Exhibit of Photographs by Roberto Chile

Since the time leading up to the Cuban Revolution in the Sierra Maestra olive green fatigues have been the most indelible sign of the indefatigable revolutionary; Fidel Castro Ruz. After 1959 there were times when protocol dictated he dress in a guayabera or a classic dark suit but right away he would return to his military fatigues with the red and black squares with golden laurel on his shoulder, signifying his leadership.

It was like that until that fateful day that made us mute with anguish when the condition of his health required him to relinquish his duties that he had held for so long by popular acclaim. It also seemed that the uniform of so many hard fought and glorious battles, with its woven threads of high moments of contemporary history, would be left aside as well.

But Fidel is Fidel, as was said by someone who knew him before and better than any of us. Fidel knows how much meaning the olive green and the star of the Commander in Chief has for a people that used that symbol to feed its resistance in determining its own history.