Cuba Material collection · Colección Cuba Material
Powered by CatalogIt · Gestionada con CatalogIt
Catalog
"26 de Julio / 10 Millones" Commemorative Lapel Pin — Zafra de los Diez Millones
Object/Artifact
Upright rectangular stamped-metal lapel pin with rounded corners and a raised outer border. The design reads top to bottom: the legend 26 DE JULIO across the top; a central band containing a row of six stylized rifle silhouettes, rendered as bare-metal outlines reserved against a black ground; a large red numeral 10 dominating the lower two-thirds; and MILLONES along the bottom. Raised lettering, border, and bottle outlines are bare silver-tone metal; the field is black; the numeral is red.
2025.2.19
Obtained in Cuba by Anna Veltfort and brought to New York City with her when she moved back to the US.
The Zafra de los Diez Millones was the 1970 drive to cut and mill ten million tons of sugar in a single harvest, proclaimed by Fidel Castro as the goal for 1970, an objective ultimately not met; the country was militarily mobilized to the cane fields and the rest of the economy was subordinated to it. Despite paralyzing much of the country's other industry, the target was missed, with 8.5 million tons produced — still a historical record. The "26 de Julio" element ties the harvest to the regime's central patriotic holiday (the anniversary of the 1953 Moncada assault): launching the mass phase on 27 October 1969, Castro announced that the suspended Christmas celebrations — the roast pork, the beans, the nougat, and the drink — would be saved for July, so that once the battle of the ten million was won there would be a formidable 26 de Julio with fiestas in Santiago and in every town and sugar mill.
Anna Veltfort collection
2025.2
Anna Veltfort
Gift
circa 1969
1960s
Cuba
Caribbean
Central America
Manufacturer/Attribution: Unmarked on the visible (obverse) face; no maker mark legible. Cuban production (tentative as to specific maker; the subject and language are unambiguously Cuban). Designer unknown. Date: circa 1969–1970 (the harvest's mass phase, Oct 1969, through the intended 26 July 1970 celebration).
Inscription
26 de julio 10 millones
Spanish
July 26 10 millions
2.5 cm
1.7 cm
Single stamped metal plate. Reverse pin/clutch attachment.
Metal
Stamped metal, likely aluminum or light alloy (tentative), with black and red enamel or paint infill; raised elements left as bare metal.
Good
Anna Veltfort
owner
Havana
Cuba
Caribbean
Central America
acquisition
New York
U.S.A.
North America
preservation
Ten-Million-Ton Sugar Harvest
Anniversary of the July 26th attack on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de a Cespedes barracks