Cuba on My Mind
by Wells Staley-Mays
The Fourteenth Pastors for Peace Friendshipment of medical supplies and
equipment to Cuba took place in July. Thirteen people from Maine accompanied
the Friendshipment. Eight of us went with the vans and trucks full of the
much-needed supplies all the way from Maine to Tampico, Mexico. Five of us
flew to McAllen, Texas where we met the others and continued with the
Friendshipment to Tampico. We loaded the supplies into container vessels on
the docks of Tampico, whence they were shipped to Cuba. Some of us had hoped
to be stopped at the U.S./Mexico border in order to further dramatize the
immorality of the U.S. embargo of Cuba. But, as with many previous
Friendshipments, the authorities in McAllen and Reynosa, Mexico waved us
through.
I believe that the health and well being of the Cuban people should be of
utmost concern to all people who cherish peace and justice. The embargo of
food and medicine to any nation is really just another weapon of war, as has
been clearly illustrated in Iraq. Given the threatening remarks against Cuba
made recently by Secretary of State Colin Powell on "Meet the Press," an
Iraq-style invasion of the island is on many Cuban minds. Cuba offers a
model to the United States and to the world of a government which is
committed to economic justice for all of its citizens. My major impressions
of Cuba were that its citizens support the government because the government
supports the citizens.
A major focus of our trip was the status of senior citizens in Cuba. Our
supplies were intended for use in senior citizens' clinics. We visited
hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, assisted living quarters, recreational
and cultural centers, and community gardens all for senior citizens.
A 90-year-old resident of one facility advised us that the use of proper
herbs and roots, which he grew in his garden, might just enhance our sex
lives as they had his! The major causes of ill health among all the people
of Cuba are pretty similar to those in the United States: cardiovascular
disease, hypertension, auto accidents, cancer, and diabetes. One fifth of
the Cuban population is diabetic. The diets of the U.S. and Cuba are very
similar.
One senior center complex we visited was housed in one of the thousands of
beautiful old homes, which together have made Havana qualify for the status
of a World Cultural Heritage Treasure by the United Nations. The center had
been named in honor of a Dr. Munoz, who was killed in the tragic aftermath
of the July 26, 1952 attack on the Moncada garrison in Santiago de Cuba by a
group of 150 young rebels who opposed the recent coup by the dictator
Batista against the democratically-elected new President of Cuba. The leader
of this attack, which is celebrated as the beginning of the present (the
third) Cuban Revolution was Fidel Castro.
We visited schools and met some of the most talented, self-confident,
vibrant young people I have ever seen. UNESCO calls Cuba's educational
system the best in Latin America. All Cuban schools place a great emphasis
on art, music, dance, and theater. Second grade students take part in an
island-wide competition, the winners of which are selected to go to boarding
schools, which focus on the arts. We visited one such boarding school in
Bayamo, a city in the eastern part of the island. Bayamo is famous because
the national anthem of Cuba ("The Bayamo Song") was composed here in 1868 by
Pedro Figueredo to honor the initial successes of the first Cuban
Revolution. The power of the anthem led to its being adopted by the Cuban
government in 1940 and retained by the successful third Cuban Revolution of
1958. Bayamo is a city especially dedicated to art today. Its streets are
full of unique and interesting examples of artistic expression.
Bayamo was the capital of the first unsuccessful Cuban struggle for
independence from Spain (1868-1878). The "Father of the Nation," Carlos
Manuel de Cispedes, was a wealthy slave owner and intellectual and one of
the first Cuban abolitionists. De Cispedes died before a Spanish firing
squad in 1874. Several of the generals who fought under De Cispedes,
including Antonio Maceo, refused to concede to the Spanish compromise. Maceo
and Maximo Gomez started the second Cuban revolution against the Spanish in
1895.
De Cispedes was influential in the formative thinking of another famous
revolutionary of the period, Jose Marti. It is very important that we who
call ourselves lovers of peace and justice know about the life and writings
of Jose Marti. Fidel Castro urges all Cubans to "take into our hearts the
teachings of the Leader". Jose Marti lived in the United States between the
end of the first and the beginning of the second Cuban revolutions. The
period in the United States coincided with the bloody end of Reconstruction
in the South and the violent labor struggles for workers' rights and the
eight-hour day. Marti was a reporter for newspapers in New York and Chicago,
and he closely observed the social struggles in the U.S. and the growing
imperialism of U.S. foreign policy.
Jose Marti is the national hero of Cuba; his revolutionary writings are
studied by every school child in the country. He launched an invasion of
Cuba in 1895, considered the beginning of the second unsuccessful Cuban
Revolution. Marti was killed in battle shortly after the invasion. From 1895
to 1898 the Cuban Army of Liberation fought Spanish forces from all over
Latin America and Spain and successfully drove the reactionary forces to the
western part of the island. In retaliation, the Spanish built concentration
camps and herded Cubans into them. Many died of malnutrition and dysentery.
Just as the Cubans were about to win their independence from Spain, the
United States intervened. In 1889, Jose Marti had written, "I have lived
inside the monster and know its entrails. Once the U.S. is in Cuba who will
get her out?" It was not until 60 years later that the third Cuban
Revolution threw off U.S. control over Cuba, overcame the racism which Marti
had battled, and achieved the equality and social justice of which he had
dreamed. In December, 1991, the National Assembly voted to drop
Marxism-Leninism from the Constitution as the official State thinking in
Cuba and to return to the teachings of Jose Marti.
Part two of this article will appear in the winter issue of PeaceTalk.
Back to Peace Talk Index, Fall,
2003