Patria o Muerte is Cuba’s national motto, a slogan that originated from a speech delivered by Castro on 5th of March, 1960.

A formulação completa: Hasta la victoria siempre. Patria o muerte é uma famosa frase em castelhano, que mais tarde se tornou o slogan político da esquerda revolucionária, atribuída ao revolucionario, guerrilheiro, politico, jornalista, escritor e medico argentino-cubano Che Guevara.

Ele representou oficialmente Cuba nas Nações Unidas, tendo pronunciado um discurso da sua 19ª Assembleia Geral, em 11 de dezembro de 1964.

Patria O Muerte, the documentary: Cuba, Fatherland or Death is rotten wood on a crumbling building, a battered metal coffee cup, shirtless boys fishing from the seawall on the Malecón, the desolate faces of a male prostitute, an old man hunched against a wall, and an exhausted, struggling mother.

Since the 2014 opening of relations between Cuba and the United States the focus has beeen on the positive possibilities that change could bring, and the emotion of estranged people reuniting.

By contrast, the hourlong Patria O Muerte, the documentary shows Havana and Cuba as a relentlessly oppressive place.

Vitalii Manskii’s latest documentary Patria o Muerte opens with a vision of Cuba that tourists may hope to find when they visit the country: a series of scantily clad young women dancing and gyrating to upbeat salsa music.

The women, many of whom are dressed in bright colors, smile seductively at the camera and blow kisses to the viewer after finishing their performances.

Patria o Muerte is neither overly pessimistic nor strictly focused on the political situation.

It is a film about life and what is truly important: family, building a better life for your children and grandchildren, traditions, music and, most of all, dance.

Dance is what makes Cubans ‘Cuban’ and what brings foreigners to Cuba as tourists.