This unique and original copy of the play “Peasant Soul” was published by the Cuban cigar company Gener with photographs of scenes staged to accompany the script on the other side of every image. Alma Guajira won the national theatre prize, inaugurated by then President Gerardo Machado, for the first time on 27 January 1928 in order to honor of the nationalist writer and hero José Martí on the eve of the anniversary of his birthday. Ironically, Machado marked Martí’s birthday as a national holiday in order to use Martí’s anti-imperialist credentials to cover up for his own legendary corruption and collaboration with US investors. In 1928, Machado announced that he would simply “extend” his tenure and those of congressmen in office without election, an act that galvanized five years of civic and armed protest. In August 1933, Machado became the first of Cuba’s dictators to flee the country and unleash a massive social revolution.
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