IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 9 ENGLISH | Page 38

This year many exhibitions took place
across the country, but perhaps the most
curious was the collective sample at the
Hall of Diversity in the Photographic
Library of Cuba (Old Havana). Its title,
Messenger of Oshún, came from the
image, taken by José Agraz, that the
Cuban people had interpreted as a
blessing: Fidel with the dove on his
shoulder.
The historical iconography positioned
him as the undisputed leader and
sovereign of the Cuban revolution,
touched by divine grace, but we know
that personality is fabricated and
influences too.
There is a photo showing Fidel with
affable face, posing next to an image of
Our Lady of Charity, Patroness of Cuba.
Nothing is more demonstrative of his
double standard. After the revolutionary
triumph, both religion and religious
people ended up being subjected to
outrages in their workplaces, schools
and neighborhoods. Many of them were
held in the UMAP camps under a forced
labor regimen in agriculture.
Times of change?
However, the popular imagination has
been embracing other celebrities by the
deeds and grace of TV, for instance, the
international soccer stars who appear in
European leagues’ matches broadcasted
by the Cuban TV station Tele Rebelde.
Thusly Cubans can see how Leonel
Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo come
from humble strata, but —as in the
Cinderella story— have become rich
and spend without limits. Without
prejudice to their personal effort and
talent, both are money making machines
in a business that provides juice

dividends to investors.
Now the Cubanitos pursue the dream of
being like them, but in a country where
the odds are nil. There is neither a pool
of local talents nor the willingness to
assemble national teams that can
compete in international leagues.
Simply, there is neither money for
developing soccer nor sponsors who bet
on this sport in Cuba.
While setting these athletes as idols,
charisma plays an essential role. Their
personal attitudes end up governing the
behavior of young people, who
exchange videos, learn tactics and
strategies, put photos on their mobile
phones, download information in WiFi
environments and review in details the
soccer stars´ lives. Even their female
couples become standards of perfect
women.
Right away you notice who enjoy the
highest status among these young
people: those wearing uniforms from
this or that foreign league and the
corresponding signature sports shoes,
just like their idols. Meanwhile, the
young children from poor families must
conform to suffer and play with
whatever they get. So, the discomfort
grows since the differences favor The
Prince and The Pauper´s syndrome.
While the old patriarch is honored, the
appropriation of foreign myths and
values is the key of taste and fashion
among the young people who
supposedly will be the new sociopolitical and socio-economic mainstay
for the historical continuity of the
patriarchal regime. The consequences
may be tragic if people’s ideology and
culture is not recovered from the roots
of the Cuban identity.

37