Nobody Listened (1987) - A visual history of the first three decades of the Cuban revolution

Using a collection of interviews, Ulla and Almendros showcase the contrasting realities of Cuba’s 1959 Revolution. After Cuba denies Ulla direct access to the island’s judicial system, Ulla constructs the film around the experience of political prisoners on the island. Thus, offering the director an opportunity to analyze the island’s judicial process (or rather lack thereof) and prison systems without directly visiting Cuba. Amongst those interviews are Jorge Valls, Huber Matos, and Armando Valladares. Ulla also includes interviews of Fidel Castro. The interviews of Castro serve to draw a clear contrast between the Revolution and the realities experienced by political prisoners on the island.

"THIS DAY IN CUBAN HISTORY"

Ruben Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar (1901-1973), President of Cuba, 1940-1944 and Strongman, 1952-1958.

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A.B.C. -  A prominent clandestine organization opposing the dictatorial regime of Gerardo Machado, composed of intellectuals, students, and representatives of the middle sectors of society. 

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On the first of December Maceo ordered that Colonel Carlos González Clavel and a pilot from the area, look for a passage on the trail near the port of Mariel. The scouts returned without finding the breach.

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Carlos J. Finlay y Barrés (1833-1915).  Physician and epidemiologist, discoverer of the mosquito vector of yellow fever.  Born in Camagüey on December 3rd, of a Scots father and a French Creole mother from Trinidad, he grew up on his father’s coffee plantation, but was sent to school in France and England

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Elian González (1993-  ).  Rescued from an inner tube floating in the Florida Strait, November 30, 1999.

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Cuba and sugar have been tied inseparable in history.  There is an old saying that synthetizes this relationship “Sin azúcar no hay país.” 

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Federacion Estudiantil Universitaria (F.E.U.)  Cuba’s first organized Student Federation, created in November 1922 with Julio Antonio Mella as secretary and popular figurehead, in angry response to the corruption and incompetence of many professors at the University of Havana. 

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Camilo Cienfuegos Gorriarán (1932- 1959).  Raúl Castro’s predecessor as commander in chief of the armed forces, born in the Jesús del Monte district of Havana, Cienfuegos was an early supporter of Fidel Castro who sailed on the Granma and fought alongside him in the Sierra Maestra. 

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Félix Varela y Morales (1787-1853).  Havana born priest and philosopher.  Father Varela studied at the Colegio y Seminario de San Carlos, where he became a priest and professor of philosophy as the protégé of Bishop Díaz de Espada.

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Aircraft Hijacking. The first political hijack in Cuban history was on October 21, 1958, by members of Raúl Castro’s rebel army.

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Grito de Yara.  Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y del Castillo’s call to rebellion, which initiated the Ten Years’ War, was issued from this town near his plantation of La Demajagua, on October 10, 1868, against Spain, in the name of the newly organized Junta Revolucionaria de Cuba.

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“Che” Guevara (Ernesto Guevara de la Serna y Lynch, 1928-1967).  Argentine revolutionary, Cuba’s former minister of industries, guerrilla theoretician, and Fidel Castro’s trusted adviser.  Born on June 14 in Rosario, Argentina, of Spanish and Irish descent, he suffered from asthma, spending his childhood in a mountain town near Rosario. 

"THIS DAY IN CUBAN HISTORY..."

Compañía Cubana de Aviación (CCA).  Cuba’s most important civil aviation company was founded October 8, 1929 as the Compañía Nacional Cubana de Aviación Curtiss, S.A., a subsidiary of North American Aviation.  

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Gerardo Machado y Morales (1871-1939).  President of Cuba, 1925-1933.  Bon in Santa Clara, September 28, he spent his childhood at the family cattle estate, attended private schools and in his early 20s engaged in growing and selling tobacco.