IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 7 ENGLISH | Page 11

Race, Class, and Gender

Playing with Fire
José Hugo Fernández
Writer and journalist
Cuban residing in the United State

T

he police authorities were surprised
by the attempted, popular rebellion
last November 17th at La Cuevita, in
Havana, in the San Miguel de Padrón
municipality, although they shouldn’t have
been. This filled the headlines of media
outside of Cuba dedicated to informing on
reality in Cuba. Yet, it would not be a bad
idea to recall the reason for it, what
detonated it, which was the violent arrest of
a black citizen who was selling some
product illegally. A police patrol broke onto
the scene, detained the individual, and began

beating him despite the fact the arrestee
showed no signs of resistance or aggression.
It was enough so that the locals and passersby from the neighborhood (a marginal
neighborhood with a very high number of
blacks and mestizos) defiantly attacked the
agents, shouting “abusers” and “terrorists” at
them.
The
police,
notwithstanding,
continued their job with impunity, which
caused the tone of anger in the population to
increase. “Down with the dictator,” “Down
with the government,” was heard from
neighbors while they assaulted the
repressors.

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