The cover of "Para matar al lobo" (To Kill the Wolf) exemplifies Raúl Martínez's revolutionary poster aesthetic, featuring a powerful graphic composition in bold blocks of red, yellow, black, and green. The design depicts silhouetted revolutionary figures with raised fists beneath a torch or flag, embodying the militant spirit of Cuba's underground resistance. The stark color palette and high-contrast imagery reflect the visual language of Cuban revolutionary graphics from the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Published as part of the "Colección Cocuyo" (Firefly Collection) series dedicated to "nuevos novelistas cubanos" (new Cuban novelists), this work represents the Instituto Cubano del Libro's commitment to promoting emerging revolutionary literature. Julio Travieso's debut novel dramatizes the clandestine student struggle against the Batista dictatorship, chronicling the heroism, hatred, love, and death that defined Cuba's revolutionary period.
Julio Travieso (b. 1940, Havana) was himself a participant in the student struggle against Batista before pursuing economics studies at Lomonósov University in Moscow, graduating in 1965. Prior to this novel, he had published two collections of short stories. "Para matar al lobo" portrays the "jaurías de lobos uniformados" (packs of uniformed wolves) that terrorized Cuba during the dictatorship's most repressive period, and the young revolutionaries who chose to fight back despite the unequal and brutal combat. The book was printed in August 1971 during the "Año de la Productividad" (Year of Productivity), with an initial run of 10,000 copies.
Raúl Martínez (1927-1995) was one of Cuba's most influential graphic designers and painters, known for integrating pop art techniques with revolutionary themes and creating iconic imagery for Cuban cultural institutions throughout the 1960s and 1970s.