t-shirt

Clothing/Dress/Costume

-

Archive of Cuban Socialism

Name/Title

t-shirt

Entry/Object ID

ACS-000272

Description

Printed t-shirt

Use

Message refers to the Venceremos Brigade's participation in the 1970 "Ten-Million-Ton" Sugar Harvest.

Context

Owner was a Cuban functionary working with the Venceremos Brigade.

Acquisition

Accession

2025.12

Acquisition Method

Gift

Notes

T-shirt belonged to the donor's father, Ramón Oroza Naveran (alias Demetrio), Deputy Director of the Ministry of Interior's Dirección General de Inteligencia (DGI). Oroza Naveran was in charge of supervising the Venceremos Brigade. According to a report on Cuban political activity in Puerto Rico: "Venceremos Brigade activities are of such great importance to the DGI that they are controlled by a special section of the Political and Economic Intelligence Division, ranking on a par with similar sections on the UN, the U.S. Department of State, and U.S. political parties. The Brigade section is under the direct supervision of the Deputy Director of the DGI, Ramon Oroza Naveran, known under the nom de guerre of "Demetrio." Demetrio personally supervised the creation and subsequent activities of the Brigade, and he assigned such priority to the project that all other DGI operations were held to be subordinate to the collection of intelligence from the members of the Venceremos Brigade. Practically every Cuban national attached to the Brigade camps, right down to the food service and maintenance personnel, is a member or a co-opted member of the DGI. These DGI operatives are so skilled in their impersonations that few Brigade members are aware of their true identities. In fact, so many DGI personnel are needed to staff these camps that nearly all other operations must be suspended when the camps are active. Even maintenance and clerical personnel of the Directorate are pressed into service, as numerous photographs obtained by the Subcommittee indicate." http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/terrorism/cuban-connection-pr-app.htm According to an FBI report: "Since 1969, for example, the DGI has been totally controlled by the KGB "liaison team," originally headed by Gen Vitaliy Semenov, which shares its offices, The KGB supplies a special fund to enable the DGI to carry out foreign missions on its beha.f, The DGI contains seven divisions, or lineas, The Political and Economic Intelligence Division has primary responsibility for espionage and subversion in Western countries, Its chief, Ramon Oroza Naveran, used the nom de guerre of "Demetrio" when he ran the DGI's notorious Section III, responsible for deploying “illegals” (spies who do not use diplomatic or other official cover) in target countries, The division chief's previous employment provides a clue to why the KGB sets a high valuation on Castro's secret service when it comes to spying on the United States, Given the presence of a Cuban exile community of some 700,000--not to mention several million other Spanish-speakers, mostly of Mexican or Puerto Rican origin--it is Singularly easy for the DGI to smuggle in illegals." https://archive.org/stream/fbis-report_prex-710fbis-weu-79-174/fbis-report_prex-710fbis-weu-79-174_djvu.txt

Clothing/Dress/Costume Details

Clothing Sex

Unisex

Size

small

Textile Details

Fabric

Jersey

Material

Cotton

Color

White

Made/Created

Date made

1970

Place

Country

Cuba

Region

Central America

Edition

Venceremos Brigade

Label/Inscription/Signature

Type

Inscription

Location

front

Transcription

Trimillonaria. Brigada Venceremos. Zafra 1970

Language

Spanish

Translation

Trimillionaire. Venceremos Brigade. Zafra 1970

Material/Technique

Ink

Dimensions

Dimension Description

small size

Parts

1

Condition

Overall Condition

Fair

Created By

María A. Cabrera Arús

Create Date

March 31, 2022

Updated By

María A. Cabrera Arús

Update Date

August 18, 2025