Cuba on the Edge of Change
Daily Life, first prize stories
January 12, 2016
A woman sweeps out her home in Baracoa.
Fidel Castro, Cuba’s former president and leader of the Communist revolution, died on 26 November. Mourning was fervent and public across the country. The mourning period lasted nine days, after which Castro’s ashes were taken on a route that retraced, in reverse, the steps of his victorious march from Santiago to Havana in 1959. Thousands turned out to watch the procession pass. Castro left a Cuba with much-admired education and healthcare systems, but one where a longstanding US economic embargo had led to shortages of basic supplies and widespread disrepair.
Commissioned by:Â The New York Times
Photo Credit: Tomas Munita
Tomás Munita, born in 1975, is a freelance documentary photographer with a primary interest in social and environmental issues.
He has won several awards, including 4 World Press Photo awards, Leica’s Oskar Barnack, Visa D’or Daily News, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, All Rodas, Henri Nannen, 2nd Photographer of the Year (POYi), Chris Hondros, ICP Young Photographer Award and Latin American Photographer of the Year (PoyLatam).
He works regularly for The New York Times.