Haydee Santamaria

Haydee Santamaria led a full and painful life. One of a handful of Cuba's female revolutionary leaders, she suffered torture in Batista's prisons. After 1959, she established the world-renowned Latin American literary institution, Casa de las Americas. Its director for 20 years, Haydee provided intellectual and physical refuge for artists and writers in exile from Latin American dictatorships. Among those who pay tribute to Santamaria here are Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Mario Benedetti and Roque Dalton.