T-shirt, Brigada Antonio Maceo — Segundo Contingente "Carlos Muñiz Varela"
Entry/Object ID
2026.3.1
Description
Indigo-blue short-sleeve knit t-shirt with a screen-printed circular emblem on the chest: a white silhouette portrait of a bearded man in sunglasses (Carlos Muñiz Varela) within a ring reading "BRIGADA ANTONIO MACEO" (top) and "SEGUNDO CONTINGENTE CARLOS MUÑIZ" (bottom).
Use
Used by Iraida H. López
Collection
Iraida H. López collection
Acquisition
Accession
2026.3
Acquisition Method
Gift
Clothing/Dress/Costume Details
Article of Clothing/Dress/Costume
Shirt
Size
Small
Textile Details
Color
Blue
Made/Created
Manufacturer
Screen Stars
Date made
1979
Time Period
1970s
Place
Country
U.S.A.
Continent
North America
Notes
Maker: Blank manufactured by Screen Stars (US t-shirt brand; size S). Design and printing commissioned by/for the Brigada Antonio Maceo (organization of young Cuban émigrés). Print designer not identified.
Date: 1979. The second contingent was named for Carlos Muñiz Varela following his assassination on April 28, 1979, and traveled to Cuba about three months later (arriving July 1979). Within the 1959–1990 range.
Place of Origin: Garment blank — United States (Screen Stars). Produced for the Brigada Antonio Maceo, a Cuban émigré organization based in the US and Puerto Rico, and worn on the contingent's 1979 trip to Cuba.
Label/Inscription/Signature
Notes
"BRIGADA ANTONIO MACEO"; "SEGUNDO CONTINGENTE CARLOS MUÑIZ"; silhouette portrait of Carlos Muñiz Varela. Neck label: "Screen Stars," size "S / 34–36," "FOR CARE SEE REVERSE."
Condition
Overall Condition
Good
Relationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Iraida H Lopez
Notes
owner
Person or Organization
Brigada Antonio Maceo
Person or Organization
Carlos Muñiz Varela
Notes
imagery
Person or Organization
Antonio Maceo
Related Places
Place
State/Province
New Jersey
Country
U.S.A.
Continent
North America
Notes
acquisition
Place
Country
Cuba
Region
Caribbean, Central America
Notes
use
Research Notes
Notes
The Brigada Antonio Maceo was an organization of young Cuban émigrés (many sent abroad as children, some via Operation Peter Pan) who initiated dialogue with revolutionary Cuba. Its first trip to Cuba took place in December 1977, an emphatic early gesture toward the reunification of the Cuban family.
As per some of its members, the name Brigadas Antonio Maceo was suggested by Cuban authorities when the group—originally known as the Primera Jornada de Jóvenes Cubanos—visited the island in 1978. This garment is therefore the first T-shirt to bear the BAM name, as the earlier version used the group’s original designation.
Carlos Muñiz Varela: a Cuban based in Puerto Rico who, with 54 other young people, formed the first contingent of the Brigada Antonio Maceo that visited Cuba in 1977, and who created the Viajes Varadero travel agency in 1979 so that Cubans living in Puerto Rico and the United States could travel to Cuba; he was assassinated on April 28, 1979, in a terrorist attack in Puerto Rico.
When he was killed, Carlos was in the final preparations for the brigade's second trip to Cuba; the trip went ahead without him three months after his murder, and in his memory the brigade named the second contingent "Carlos Muñiz Varela" — a participant recalls the blue t-shirt bearing his name that they proudly wore. The arrival of the II Contingent "Carlos Muñiz Varela" of the Brigada Antonio Maceo was reported in Juventud Rebelde on July 15, 1979. The portrait on this shirt is Carlos Muñiz Varela.
