IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 2 ENGLISH | Page 81

The definitive closure of the Atenas Occidental
and Hijos de Maceo clubs: a frustrated dream
While black associationism continued being promoted in Pinar del Río and the rest of the island,
an armed movement initiated on July 26th, 1953,
would shake the underpinnings of a decadent society. It ended in triumph, in 1959.
Little by little, different and black societies, all
protected by the National Federation of Black Cuban Societies, began to close. It began in Las Villas, right in 1959, and then moved on to Matanzas
and Camagüey, by early 1960. By year’s end, the
Boards of clubs in the territory that is now the
provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Granma and Guanánamo, decide to definitively close and cease
their operations.19
The closure of the clubs in Pinar del Río, whose
Boards were integrated into the Federation of Societies of the Province of Pinar del Río, happened
in stages, perhaps without their Boards proposing
it or even against their will. This took place between the end of 1960 and early 1961; its intention was to take part in the new, convulsive and
young Cuban Revolution’s processes. The following testimony by Santos Carrete illustrates
this point:
“When the Revolution triumphed, some of us
members decided to continue operating, by then
only as a place where we could meet.
The rebel authorities in the province had already
prohibited the location’s use for the purposes we
did prior to 1959, and we would go there to talk
and read. Sometimes we interceded in engagements between young men and women whose
parents were Atenas members. I think that the
meeting Commandant Dermidio Escalona, the

man the Revolutionary Government of Pinar del
Río appointed as its Military Leader, had with the
president of the white Spanish Colonía and me
was both funny and sad. He warned us that serious measures would be taken to put an end to racism in Cuba, and they were going to Revolutionary soldiers in Colón Park, to prevent blacks and
whites from strolling in separate areas of the park
(as had been historical custom).
Wanting to calm the tense situation a bit, I said:
“Look, Commandant. Don’t take this wrong, but
the problem is that we don’t separate ourselves on
purpose, but because we are following women,
and they sit in separate areas.”
From the moment on, every meeting at the Atenas
club took place under the watchful eye of the authorities until it was eventually closed, like all the
others, when all businesses were nationalized, to
bring about an end to private property.
One fine day, a group of members, almost all
Board members, arrived at the club, and when we
got there we are surprised to find soldiers posted
at the door who prevented us from entering, alleging that this type of institution would cease to exist from the moment on, and that the Revolution
did not allow divided clubs anymore, much less
those divided according to race.
The fundamental problem arose when valuable
documents that were part of the club’s historical
legacy were lost, when the location was closed.
The few we were able to salvage we recovered
while having openly to confront a number of soldiers. Years later, we still hadn’t seen the problem
of racism resolved, although some purported scientists say it will go away.

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