IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 2 ENGLISH | Page 40

in Cuba—not for fifty years—till very recently.
Only political and military leaders of the highest
rank, and some of their relatives and protegés
seemed to merit using part of their privilege—financial benefits earned at the expense of ordinary
people—on private security.
Incidentally, historians (or phrenologists?) will
have to analyze the reason why the revolutionary
government’s leaders hardly employed blacks as
personal bodyguards for almost fifty years, given
Cuba has such a high percentage of blacks and the
fact they have proven themselves to be quite
brave throughout the history of our nineteenthcentury, independence wars. Only recently does
one see a few of them following white leaders, but
the absence of blacks in their personal security
forces in the past decades points to yet another of
their incredible ambiguities. Conversely, blacks
are definitely present and may even predominate
among the security forces of the nouveau riche.
This doesn’t mean that the attitude of the nouveau
riche doesn’t deserve examination, but it certainly reveals much more logic.
An irreversible process?
In conclusion, it remains to be seen if the emancipating attitude that can be observed among
black Cubans in dealing with the government’s
limiting and oppressive structures—particularly
concerning their labor status—is indicative of an
irreversible process. Or, if this just a fleeting circumstance brought about by their need.
It is difficult indeed to come to any definitive conclusion when we lack scientific data or studies to
help us efficiently evaluate the phenomenon.
Nevertheless, this change in their lifestyle puts a
stop to a great many armchair philosophers and
their musings. They often say things such as ‘the
government has the army it needs in blacks and

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mestizos to maintain their unproductive, decadent
and unquestionable control.
They also argue that most black Cubans don’t
work, lack the ambition to progress and have few
options other than to live from stealing and other,
different, marginal activities. Given that no other
system is going to offer them better conditions for
their “lifestyle,” they are assumed to have a multitude of reasons for remaining faithful to the regime’s structures. This is an incredibly obtuse
supposition, of course, just one of many similar
assumptions.
This degree of obtuseness must make it very difficult for those who observe us to understand anything. Yet, this attitude is widespread, particularly among the part of our population that is more
or less economically solvent (mostly whites, curiously). It is they who feel they must protect the
current government system.
More over, it is to be expected that there are some
within the political elite who promote the erroneous idea that blacks unconditionally support the
current regime. What is actually true is that the
patriarchal, slave era mentality that government
officials espouse, and their concomitant benefactor rhetoric (it is never more than rhetoric) when
talking about blacks has led them to believe that
blacks are (they are forced to be) in their eternal
debt and their most faithful servants.
This is just one more of many other errors, e.g.,
not wanting to see things as they are, but as they
want to see them. What remains clear is that the
revolutionary government owes much more to
black Cubans than vice-versa.
This is an obvious truth. It is as obvious as the fact
that no one in Cuba today has suffered more neglect or been more disadvantaged than blacks. No
wonder it is so easy to find blacks and mestizos
among the ranks of dissidents and the peaceful,