"Cuba for Beginners" by Rius - Venceremos Brigade Edition (1970)
A remarkable underground publication featuring illustrations by Cuban cartoonist Nuez with text by renowned Mexican political satirist Rius (Eduardo del Río García), distributed by Leviathan magazine and the Venceremos Brigade. This "1st Liberated Edition" was offered free to political prisoners and sold for 50¢ to support the cause.
The cover features Nuez's distinctive simple line-drawing style—a figure walking through sugarcane fields under the Caribbean sun. The interior shows a revolutionary guerrilla fighter with the caption "Because we love life we can fight to the death..." exemplifying the publication's solidarity with the Cuban Revolution.
The Venceremos Brigade was an organization of young Americans who traveled to Cuba in defiance of the U.S. travel ban to cut sugarcane and show solidarity with the revolution. This publication served as educational material explaining Cuba's revolutionary process to American leftists during the height of the Vietnam War era.
Rius became famous for his "For Beginners" series of educational comics, making complex political and philosophical concepts accessible through humor and illustrations.