Dear Editor,
I was quite surprised at the description Professor Carl Moore gave to readers of the NATION Newspaper of Cuban society under Castro, for it is at odds with everything I have learned about Cuba in my 36 years on the Earth - granted - I was not born there, and never visited the country; but I have met many Cubans, some supporters of Castro - some opponents... but none have ever described racism in a manner even vaguely approaching that which professor Carl Moore has.
I recall former Cuban Ambassador Lazaro Cabezas (a 'white' Cuban - though seemingly as brown as myself) who's wife was a black Cuban, as a young man in Cuba Lazaro had participated in the 1959 revolution and was jailed by the Batista regime towards it's end - being freed from prison by Fidel's forces just before he was to have been executed the following morning. Lazaro said it would have been frowned upon in Batista's time for white Cubans to marry black Cubans; but revolutionary education erased the old prevailing racist views as his wife explained.
Students of history know that black Cubans were with Fidel from the beginning in the Sierra Maestra and also fought with Che to the end, some are STILL 'big boys' in the regime today.
I had presented the then (1995) Cuban Ambassador Lazaro Cabezas with a booklet I wrote about the first National Hero of Cuba (officially recognized by the Castro regime not by any previous government) - which was a brown (not black or white) Arawak Amerindian called Hatuey - whom I named my first born son after.I also told the Ambassador about the Taino-Arawak village in eastern Cuba I had heard of that most 'Cuban experts' do not even know exists, Lazaro said he knew of the place and they (the Castro Government) were in the process of re-writing the history books to reflect that reality - because the pre-Castro educational material had incorrectly claimed that there were no Cubans of pre-Colombian descent (and features) still in existence in Cuba.
A Palestinian friend of mine who studied in Cuba in the late 1990's confirmed that the History books had indeed been subsequently corrected as I was told would be done.
According to National Geographic there are just under 12 million Cubans today, of which 51% are mestizo/mulatto, 37% white, 11% black, and 1% Chinese...so unless professor Moore is of the view that "anyone who is not white is black" - his claim that most Cubans are 'Black' is incorrect. two of my cousins just spent a holiday in Cuba and they did not see anything that would lead them to believe that there was any accuracy in the professor's claims of rampant racism.
Thankfully, I was able to meet and converse with a Black Cuban taxi driver who is living in exile in the USA on one of my trips to Miami, this gentleman said that he had spent 10 years in a Cuban jail because he did not support the ideology of the Cuban government, and I asked him if he hated Castro and if Castro had been bad for Cubans of African descent (since I wanted to hear what a black Cuban victim of the one-party state would say) - and I was shocked to hear him say "No, I do not hate Castro, I do not want to see him die - just change and be more democratic, but compared to Batista's time - we (Blacks) in Cuba have many more opportunities and equality in the workplace ...as long as you support the party." Black Cuban medical workers in Guyana say the same, I have not yet heard a black Cuban say that 'racism was rampant in Cuba and ethnic tensions were on the verge of boiling over'.
Where are all the black Barbadian 'friends of Cuba'? - I am not seeing any letters from them refuting professor Moore's claims...I wonder why the silence all of a sudden.
Lastly, I can still remember seeing Cubana Airplanes at the Grantley Adams International Airport being re-fueled before they crossed the Atlantic with their full loads of Cuban troops (who were at that time the most combat trained in the Western Hemisphere) to Angola where they literally fought (and many died) against White South African invading forces to liberate Black Angolans - and the fact that CUBAN blood was shed all over the African continent in defense/liberation - of BLACK peoples - while America and Europe were happy to have friendly relations with the racist South African Apartheid regime and prop-up a myriad of ruthless puppet dictators across that great continent - is a fact no black person should ever forget.
Am I the only one who recalls seeing a Black Cuban General (the top brass at the time) receiving the Cuban troops who were returning home to a red carpet treatment attended to by cheering crowds of all races in Havana (on CNN).
Folks should recall too, that one of the first persons Nelson Mandela called to thank for supporting him through his 25 years of misery in an Apartheid jail was FIDEL CASTRO, who Mandela credits to this day with hastening his release by way of the resounding defeat Cuban troops inflicted on the South African military on the battlefields of Angola.
Best regards,
Damon Gerard Corrie
Imparting opinions and uncovering Bajan and/or West Indian happenings that don't ordinarily make most local or Caribbean newscasts... (ATTN - This Magazine now available at http://bajanreporter.com, with friendly rates for advertising events)
When Fidel sent troops to Angola to help safeguard the Angolans revolution he said the operation was named after a female Cuban slave named Carlotta. He said "Little did Carlotta realize that one day the sons of Africa would return to Africa to safeguard a peoples freedom". I have never been to Cuba but hopefully Obama will end this insane stupid policy so I can go.. I have been reading about Cuba since 1959 and what I have sensed is Blacks are finally fully participating in Cuban society. If I can get there maybe I'll find out for myself.
ReplyDeleteLazaro Cabezas was a frustrated, uneducated young man back in the 1950's. He chose the path of state terrorism instead of getting an education and earn a honest living as his only brother, my uncle, Armando Cabezas did, but strange and dangerous events were unfolding in Cuba at that time, and unfortunately a group of delinquents took power in Cuba by extreme force and have subjugated freedom loving people, including blacks, to one of the most cruel and totalitarian regimes that the Caribbean have ever seen. In 1983 Mr. Cabezas was given an ultimatum by the G-2 ( Castro’s secret police ) to marry a black woman to represent Castro’s interest in countries were black population were majority. The year was 1984, Mr. Cabezas was named Castro’s Ambassador in Guyana and until his death in 2005 he was a loyal policeman of the Castro’s regime. Mr. Cabezas had so much guilt inside himself for all the wrong he did and represented that the cause of his death is due to a Cancer in his bones. RIP Mr. Cabezas and hope in the next life you are a better human being.
ReplyDeleteL Cabezas.
Only God would know if this story about Lazaro is true, very easy to say whatever you like about a dead man who cannot give his side of the story... and it seems like it would have been easier - and more credible to merely send a Black Cuban diplomat (there are many to choose from) to a predominantly black country (like Barbados) to me if the goal was to project a bogus image, plus imagine the embarrassment if Lazaro (if the above story is to be believed) were to defect and hop on any of the several daily flights to the USA (my friends father was a former US Ambassador and they have standing instructions to facilitate any such defections) from Barbados to join his allegedly sucessful brother there - and reveal (the CIA would have LOVED the story) how he was 'forced' to marry a black woman for show.
ReplyDeleteLazaro should have gone into acting too, as when he and his very jovial wife were over to dinner or when I visited them at the Cuban Embassy here - they sure behaved like a couple deeply in love with each other, neighbours here (known to me) never heard a single argument in all that time too, really incredible when you think about it, the only other couple I know like that are my own parents (who've been happily married for over 50 years). I do recall Mrs. Cabezas telling the story of their meeting and falling in love as they cuddled each other on our sofa.
Castro is by no means a Saint, but as my mother always says - give credit where credit is due, why do Cuban exiles never mention the many atrocities Batista's regime committed? How he sold out Cuba as a playground for the wealthy Americans - with a whorehouse on every corner?
How the land and financial power was concentrated in the hands of 5% of the population with the remaining 95% living with high illiteracy and infant mortality like their serfs? Learning to read and write and having FREE access to health care (hitherto NEVER provided by the previous Capitalist dictator Fulgencio Batista)is neither 'Communist' nor 'Capitalist' - merely a Human Right....and yet Cuban Exiles never seem to acknowlegde the fact that under CASTRO Cuba has attained a degree of Literacy, skilled Medical practitioners, and health care higher than most countries of the world - that even the American NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC acknowledges to be true.
If you listen to Cuban exiles alone you would be led to believe that the Castro revolution has done absolutely nothing good for Cuba and everyone is more unhealthy, more un-educated and all round worse off than at any time in their history.
But atleast I give credit where it is due, 'Anonymous' above has nothing but negativity to share with the reader and thereby omits crucial facts (whether deliberately or inadvertently)....and on the subject of facts, I am not the only one who knows that extrapolating key facts and weaving a vitriolic story around them to post under a pseudonym does not the truth make - but it does serve to plant the seeds of doubt, and that is the goal (I suspect) of the 'story teller' in the first place.
Their lack of freedom to travel is worse now I can agree, if you could have afforded it under Batista you could have (too bad only the elite 5% could afford to), nowadays only people sponsored by the state can travel and the majority are legally barred from doing so, and this is indeed terrible and one reason I would NOT want to live there, and no-one is allowed to undertake political protests - another denial of a fundamental right.