Carlos González Blanco Collection
Scope and Content
The collection includes the letters that Carlos González Blanco wrote to his wife, mother, and daughter while he was a political prisoner in various Cuban jails. It also includes his mother's correspondence with Latin American and U.S. presidents, and international organizations, such as Amnesty International and the Red Cross, regarding the situation of her son and two brothers, Odón and Lauro Blanco, who were also political prisoners. After nine years of prison, Odón Blanco was released, and he took care of his imprisoned nephew and brother. In fact, Odón sent the letters that González Blanco wrote in prison to his family. Odón also wrote letters to inform González Blanco's wife and daughter of the physical condition of the latter.
The letters that González Blanco and his uncle wrote give evidence of the life of political prisoners in Cuba during the 1960s and 1970s. Odón's letters also deal with the conditions of life in Cuba during the same time period. According to Frida Masdeu, many of the letters that political prisoners and their relatives sent to each other were smuggled by the wardens.
Dates
- Creation: 1968-1984
Creator
- González Blanco, Carlos, 1917-1996. (Person)
Language of Materials
Includes materials written in Spanish and English.
Access
The collection is open for research.
Biographical/Historical Note
Carlos Eugenio González Blanco was born on December 25, 1917 in Colón, Matanzas, Cuba. His father, Carlos González Tadeo, was a farmer, and his mother, Mercedes Blanco Muñiz, a high school math teacher. In 1935, he participated in the Third Central American and Caribbean Games at El Salvador, where he obtained a silver medal as a light-weight boxer. Later, when González Blanco became a political prisoner, his name was deleted from official Cuban records. In 1952, he married Ara Margarita Masdeu Gaudix. A year later, they had a daughter, and González Blanco named her Frida in honor of the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. He was a business man who sold and distributed underwear in several Cuban cities.
González Blanco was also politically active. He was a member of the Partido Auténtico and participated in different unions that fought against the government of Fulgencio Batista. When Fidel Castro turned to communism, González Blanco joined a counter revolutionary group led by Eumelio Rodríguez. In 1961, along with his comrades, he was sentenced to nine years in prison. In 1966, he escaped from the Taco Taco Prison and hid in Havana, where he tried to flee the country. He was caught and sentenced to twelve more years in prison. In July 1968, González Blanco's wife and daughter arrived in the in the United States on the Vuelos de la Libertad (freedom flights to bring Cuban refugees to the U.S. sponsored by President Lyndon Johnson) . A year later, González Blanco's mother took the same route.
Thanks to family pressure, Castro's government allowed González Blanco to go to Venezuela in July 1978. On September of that year, he went to California where he joined his mother, wife, and daughter who had settled in California several years before. González Blanco worked as a night watchman in a synagogue until 1981, when he had an accident. He died in Miami of a heart attack on October 14, 1996.
Extent
0.42 Linear feet (1 box)
Abstract
The collection includes the letters that Carlos González Blanco wrote to his wife, mother, and daughter while he was a political prisoner in various Cuban jails. It also includes his mother's correspondence with Latin American and U.S. presidents, and international organizations, such as Amnesty International and the Red Cross, regarding the situation of her son and two brothers, who were also political prisoners.
Physical Location
University of Florida Smathers Library Building
Alternate Form of Finding Aid
This guide is available in Spanish at https://www.uflib.ufl.edu/findingaids/Spanish/msgroup24.pdf.
Acquisition Information
Frida Masdeu, Carlos González Blanco's daughter, donated the collection to the University of Florida in 2012.
- Title
- A Guide to the Carlos González Blanco Collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Finding aid created by Margarita Vargas-Betancourt
- Date
- October 2012 (Updated January 2024)
- Description rules
- Finding Aid Prepared Using Dacs
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is written in English.
Revision Statements
- January 2024: There were 52 letters added to the collection and 8 stamped envelopes with missing correspondence, with dates ranging from 1968 to 1978.
Repository Details
Part of the Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida Repository
George A. Smathers Libraries
PO Box 117005
Gainesville Florida 32611-7005 United States of America
352-273-2755
special@uflib.ufl.edu