--- description: LightBox profiles photographer Enrique Meneses, a Spanish photographer who had a knack for being in the right place at the right time. title: Enrique Meneses: On the Frontier of History image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt173f55eaa31b0b8b/6987a74ccd68482ed609c9c4/048ret-ret22.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/) ## LightBox Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Enrique Meneses: On the Frontier of History by [Richard Conway](/author/richard-conway/) ## Richard Conway Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 1, 2013 7:57 PM CUT  Fidel Castro reads at night during the Battle of Pino del Agua, in the Sierra Maestra mountains, Cuba, 1958. Fidel Castro reads at night during the Battle of Pino del Agua, in the Sierra Maestra mountains, Cuba, 1958.Enrique Meneses—Fundación Enrique Meneses by [Richard Conway](/author/richard-conway/) ## Richard Conway Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 1, 2013 7:57 PM CUT The image on the April 19, 1958 cover of _Paris Match_ is surely among its most significant, and is certainly among its most storied. Editors at the magazine, which at the time was headed up by Hervé Mille, had decided to run with an unsettling photo: Pictured was a bearded, bespectacled gunman in combat fatigues; holding his arm high, he is shown aiming a pistol out of shot while a dense cluster of trees frames his figure. The setting, readers quickly learned, was the Sierra Maestra mountains of Cuba. And the man? “Fidel Castro,” a subhead further explained, “the Robin Hood of the Sierra.” Graduation rates are on the rise amid the closings of so-called dropout factories, and could hit 90% before the end of the decade, according to new reports While it might seem a jarring description today, particularly for a figure who would become so infamous; Castro, and the rebellion he and Che Guevara had by then headed up for six years, were virtually unknown to many in Europe. Indeed, to some readers, the explanation might have made sense: this figure seemed like some sort of French _maquisard_, a guerilla fighter maybe hoping to take from longtime Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, and give to the common people. The magazine cover – which formed part of a larger photoessay – was to be the first ever in-depth look at the Cuban revolution, and having Castro on the cover turned out to be a quite a scoop for _Match_. But of course scoops don’t come easy. The essay – shot in 1957 and 1958 – was the work of a Madrid-born photographer who had taken many risks to get the images out. His name was Enrique Meneses, and he was as passionate about journalism as he was eager to find stories. At that time, he was something of an unknown internationally, but he was nimble with a lens, and had a knack for being in the right place at the right time. Menses had been sent to a Cuba languishing under the heavy rule of Batista. On landing in regime spy riddled Havana, the Spaniard spent weeks trying to get in touch with the revolutionaries, who were based in the foothills of the Sierra Maestra mountains. Through chance encounters, he eventually found someone to take him to the rebel-occupied area. But gaining access was only the beginning. After spending a month shooting, he had to find a way to get the images back to his editors. His contacts put him in touch with a sympathetic young woman, who smuggled his film out of Cuba to Miami in a petticoat, from where they were sent to Europe. And there was more: When the essay was finally published, the Cuban police arrested and beat Meneses. But it didn’t deter him. The essay marked just one high point in a career filled with well-regarded work, which only came to an end with his death in 2013. Born to a Spanish family who had relocated to Paris, his father, Enrique Meneses Sr., was publisher of [Cosmopolis ](http://www.scribd.com/doc/34048326/Cosmopolis-1929-Febrero "undefined")magazine. Meneses the younger had journalism in his veins from the start, and having come of age in Franco-ruled Spain, was eager to escape its grip. “He was restless, curious and cosmopolitan,” says Gumersindo LaFuente, a Madrid-based journalist and contributor to _Enrique Menses: A Reporter’s Life_ (La Fábrica 2013). “This led him out of Spain, which was closed in on itself.” And if his country was looking inward, he looked outward. Throughout his career, he covered everything from the March on Washington – where he produced memorable images of Martin Luther King – to the Seuz Crisis, and from conflicts in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) to Angola. He pictured politicians, socialites, artists, protestors and royals, and his work featured regularly in LIFE, and the New York _Times._ Meneses’ style was a sort of non-style: he rarely used a flash or telephoto lens, and tended to keep his framing simple. An empiricist to to the last, he was a true self-trained documentarian, his camera a conveyor of what he found, not what he wanted to see. His vocation was life itself. “Journalism is about going, hearing, seeing, coming back and telling someone,” Meneses said in a 2012 [interview](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcSYWH3ZSZw&feature=youtu.be "undefined") with Babylon Magazine, “The University of Journalism is the streets.” --- [Enrique Meneses: A Reporter’s Life](http://store.icp.org/enrique-meneses-la-vida-de-un-reportero-a-reporters-life/ "undefined") _was published_ _Sept. 30, 2013_ _by La Fábrica._ **_Richard Conway_** _is Reporter/Producer for TIME LightBox. Follow him on twitter_ [_@RichardJConway_](https://twitter.com/RichardJConway "undefined")_._ _He has previously written for LightBox on_ [_Erwin Olaf_](http://lightbox.time.com/2013/03/20/erwin-olafs-berlin-portraits-of-a-new-world/ "undefined")_,_ [_Gary Winogrand_](http://lightbox.time.com/2013/03/13/an-american-epic-the-work-of-garry-winogrand/ "undefined")_,_ [_Ezra Stoller_](http://lightbox.time.com/2012/11/16/recording-modernism-the-work-of-ezra-stoller/ "undefined") _and_ [_Peter Hujar_](http://lightbox.time.com/2013/03/06/a-profound-beauty-peter-hujars-timeless-portraits/ "undefined")_._ ---  During the Battle of Pino del Agua, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara talk to a fellow rebel, who had just come from spying on Batista’s troops, in the Sierra Maestra mountains, Cuba, 1958. Enrique Meneses—Fundación Enrique Meneses  Fidel's comrade-in-arms, Che Guevara, arrives for a celebratory dinner in the Sierra Maestra mountains, Cuba, Christmas Day, 1957. Enrique Meneses—Fundación Enrique Meneses  Fidel Castro's fellow rebels in the Sierra Maestra mountains, Cuba, 1958. Enrique Meneses—Fundación Enrique Meneses  Fidel Castro reads at night during the Battle of Pino del Agua, in the Sierra Maestra mountains, Cuba, 1958. Enrique Meneses—Fundación Enrique Meneses  An undated photo of a Cuban Missile Crisis demonstration in the U.S. Enrique Meneses—Fundación Enrique Meneses  President John F. Kennedy, and Jacqueline Kennedy arrive in Vienna, Austria on Air Force One, June, 1961. Enrique Meneses—Fundación Enrique Meneses  Martin Luther King at the March on Washington, Aug. 28, 1963. Enrique Meneses—Fundación Enrique Meneses  The March on Washington, Aug. 28, 1963. Enrique Meneses—Fundación Enrique Meneses  Marlon Brando flanked by Sammy Davis, Jr., and Charlton Heston at the March on Washington, 1963. Enrique Meneses—Fundación Enrique Meneses  The March on Washington, Aug. 28, 1963. Enrique Meneses—Fundación Enrique Meneses  An undated photograph showing a protest following the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. Enrique Meneses—Fundación Enrique Meneses  Muhammad Ali - then known as Cassius Clay - reading his poetry at Take Three, a bar in Lower Manhattan, New York, circa 1963. Enrique Meneses—Fundación Enrique Meneses  An undated photograph of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein and Haile Selassie, the last emperor of Ethiopia. Enrique Meneses—Fundación Enrique Meneses  Fidel Castro reading Curzio Malaparte's "Kaputt," in the Sierra Maestra mountains, Cuba, 1958. Enrique Meneses—Fundación Enrique Meneses ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3802802/enrique-meneses-on-the-frontier-of-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3802802/enrique-meneses-on-the-frontier-of-history/"},"headline":"Enrique Meneses: On the Frontier of History","datePublished":"2013-10-01T19:57:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:40:40.207Z","description":"LightBox profiles photographer Enrique Meneses, a Spanish photographer who had a knack for being in the right place at the right time.","url":"https://time.com/3802802/enrique-meneses-on-the-frontier-of-history/","keywords":["LightBox","MLK","Cuba topic","Profile","Fidel Castro","Photojournalism"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt173f55eaa31b0b8b/6987a74ccd68482ed609c9c4/048ret-ret22.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Richard Conway","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/richard-conway/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt173f55eaa31b0b8b/6987a74ccd68482ed609c9c4/048ret-ret22.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Fidel Castro reads at night during the Battle of Pino del Agua, in the Sierra Maestra mountains, Cuba, 1958.","caption":"Fidel Castro reads at night during the Battle of Pino del Agua, in the Sierra Maestra mountains, Cuba, 1958.","creditText":"Enrique Meneses—Fundación Enrique Meneses","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-lightbox/","name":"LightBox"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3802802/enrique-meneses-on-the-frontier-of-history/","name":"Enrique Meneses: On the Frontier of History"}}]}] ```