Early Years
Born in a cane field, he was able to enter a vocational school, where he joined the Communist Party of Cuba. He gave up the opportunity to enter the University of Havana to become a professional organizer for the party at the age of 20. After successfully organizing the party in several small towns, he broke with the organization and became an unaffiliated leftist.
He turned to journalism to make a living, where his voracious reading provided him with a much better education than he would have received in the university. During this time Franqui became involved in several literary and artistic movements and developed friendships with Cuban artists, including writer Guillermo Cabrera Infante and painter Wifredo Lam.
Read more about this topic: Carlos Franqui
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