Three Peasants Fight for Freedom: Radio and the United States’ Cultural Cold War in Latin America

Abstract

This article examines the 1961–1962 adaptation of the highly successful 1940s Cuban radio series Los tres Villalobos and the sociopolitical and industrial circumstances that shaped this radio product. Produced by the Miami-based company America’s Production Inc. for the United States Information Agency and authored by the scriptwriter of the original series, the 1960s version explored the evils of communism and introduced the economic, political, and social benefits of John F. Kennedy’s “Alliance for Progress” plan for Latin America. The article argues that through radio programs such as Los tres Villalobos, America’s Production Inc. and its Cuban media professionals initiated a series of “ventriloquist” acts that voiced the political and socioeconomic objectives of the Kennedy administration and represented some of the political rhetoric emerging from Cuban exile groups in Miami.