The Cuba Reader

Contents

Acknowledgments xi Introduction i

I Indigenous Society and Conquest Christopher Columbus "Discovers" Cuba, Christopher Columbus 9 The Devastation of the Indies, Bartolome de Las Casas 12 Spanish Officials and Indigenous Resistance, Various Spanish Officials 15 A World Destroyed, Juan Pere^ de la Riva 20 "Transculturation" and Cuba, Fernando Orti^ 26 Survival Stories, Jose Barreiro 28

II Sugar, Slavery, and Colonialism A Physician's Notes on Cuba, John G. F. Wurdemann 39 The Death of the Forest, Manuel Moreno Fraginah 44 Autobiography of a Slave, Juan Francisco Man^ano 49 Biography of a Runaway Slave, Miguel Barnet 58 Fleeing Slavery, Miguel Barnet, Pedro Deschamps Chapeaux, Rafael Garcia, and Rafael Duharte 65 Santiago de Cuba's Fugitive Slaves, Rafael Duharte 69 Rumba, Yvonne Daniel 74 The Trade in Chinese Laborers, Richard Dana yg Life on a Coffee Plantation, John G. F. Wurdemann 83 Cuba's First Railroad, David Turnbull 88 The Color Line, Jose Antonio Saco 91 Abolition!, Father Felix Varela 94 Cecilia Valdes, Cirilo Villaverde 97 Sab, Gertrudis Gome^ de Avellaneda y Arteaga 103 An Afro-Cuban Poet, Pldcido no vi Contents

III The Struggle for Independence

Freedom and Slavery, Carlos Manuel dc Cespedes 115 Memories of a Cuban Girl, Rene'c Mende-^ Capote 118 Jose Marti's "Our America," Jose Marti 122 Guantanamera, Jose Marti 128 The Explosion of the Maine, New York Journal 130 US. Cartoonists Portray Cuba, JohnJ. Johnson 135 The Devastation of Counterinsurgency, Fifty-fifih Congress, Second Session 139

IV Neocolonialism The Platt Amendment, President Theodore Roosevelt 147 Imperialism and Sanitation, Nancy Stepan 150 A Child of the Platt Amendment, Renee Mende^ Capote 154 Spain in Cuba, Manuel Moreno Fraginals 157 The Independent Party of Color, El Partido Independiente de Color 163 A Survivor, lsidoro Santos Carrera 167 Rachel's Song, Miguel Barnet 171 Honest Women, Miguel de Carrion 180 Generals and Doctors, Carlos Loveira 186 A Crucial Decade, Lolo de la Torriente 189 Afrocubanismo and Son, Robin Moore 192 Drums in My Eyes, Nicolas Guillen 201 Abakud, Rafael Lope^ Valde's 212 The First Wave of Cuban Feminism, Ofelia Domingue^ Navarro 219 Life at the Mill, Ursinio Rojas 226 Migrant Workers in the Sugar Industry, Levi Marrero 234 The Cuban Counterpoint, Fernando Orti^ 239 The Invasion of the Tourists, Rosalie Schwart^ 244 Waiting Tables in Havana, Cipriano Chinea Palero and Lynn Geldof 253 The Brothel of the Caribbean, Tomds Ferndnde^Robaina 257 A Prostitute Remembers, Oscar Lewis, Ruth M. Lewis, and Susan M. Rigdon 260 Sugarcane, Nicolas Guillen 264 Where Is Cuba Headed?, Julio Antonio Mella 265 The Chase, Alejo Carpentier 270 The Fall of Machado, R. Hart Phillips 274 Contents vii

Sugar Mills and Soviets, Salvador Rionda 281 The United States Confronts the 1933 Revolution, Sumner Welles and Cordell Hull 283 The Political Gangster, Samuel Farber 287 The United Fruit Company in Cuba, Oscar Zanetti 290 Cuba's Largest Inheritance, Bohemia 296 The Last Call, Eduardo A. Chibds 298 For Us, It Is Always the 26th of July, Carlos Puebla 300 Three Comandantes Talk It Over, Carlos Franqui 302 History Will Absolve Me, Fidel Castro 306 Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War, Che Guevara 315 The United States Rules Cuba, 1952-1958, Morris Morley 321 The Cuban Story in the New York Times, Herbert L. Matthews 326

V Building a New Society And Then Fidel Arrived, Carlos Puebla 337 Tornado, Silvio Rodriguez 340 Castro Announces the Revolution, Fidel Castro 341 How the Poor Got More, Medea Benjamin, Joseph Collins, and Michael Scott 344 Fish a la Grande Jardiniere, Humberto Arena! 354 Women in the Swamps, Margaret Randall 363 Man and Socialism, Ernesto "Che" Guevara 370 In the Fist of the Revolution, Jose Yglesias 375 The Agrarian Revolution, Medea Benjamin, Joseph Collins, and Michael Scott 378 1961: The Year of Education, Richard R. Fagen 386 The Literacy Campaign, Oscar Lewis, Ruth M. Lewis, and Susan M. Rigdon 389 The "Rehabilitation" of Prostitutes, Oscar Lewis, Ruth M. Lewis, and Susan M. Rigdon 395 The Family Code, Margaret Randall 399 Homosexuality, Creativity, Dissidence, Reinaldo Arenas 406 The Original Sin, Pablo Milanes 412 Where the Island Sleeps Like a Wing, Nancy Morejon 414 Silence on Black Cuba, Carlos Moore 419 Black Man in Red Cuba, John Clytus 424 Post-modern Maroon in the Ultimate Palenque, Christian Parenti 427 viii Contents

From Utopianism to Institutionalization, Juan Antonio Blanco and Medea Benjamin 433 Carlos Puebla Sings about the Economy, Carlos Puebla 443

VI Culture and Revolution Caliban, Roberto Fernandez Retamar 451 For an Imperfect Cinema, Julio Garcia Espinosa 458 Dance and Social Change, Yvonne Daniel 466 Revolutionary Sport, Paula Pettavino and Geralyn Pye 475 Mea Cuba, Guillermo Cabrera Infante 481 In Hard Times, Heberto Padilla 488 The Virgin of Charity of Cobre, Cuba's Patron Saint, Olga Portuondo TAniga 490 A Conversation on Santeria and Palo Monte, Oscar Lewis, Ruth M. Lewis, and Susan M. Rigdon 498 The Catholic Church and the Revolution, Ernesto Cardenal 505 Havana's Jewish Community, Tom Miller 509

VII The Cuban Revolution and the World The Venceremos Brigades, Sandra Levinson 517 The Cuban Revolution and the New Left, Van Gosse 526 The U.S. Government Responds to Revolution, Foreign Relations of the United States 530 Castro Calls on Cubans to Resist the Counterrevolution, Fidel Castro 536 Operation Mongoose, Edward Lansdale 540 Offensive Missiles on That Imprisoned Island, President John F. Kennedy 544 Inconsolable Memories: A Cuban View of the Missile Crisis, Edmundo Desnoes 547 The Assassination Plots, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities 552 Cuban Refugee Children, Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh 557 From Welcomed Exiles to Illegal Immigrants, Felix Roberto Masud-Piloto 561 Wrong Channel, Roberto Fernandez 566 We Came All the Way from Cuba So You Could Dress Like This?, Achy Obejas 568 City on the Edge, Alejandro Fortes and Alex Stepick 581 Contents ix

Singing for Nicaragua, Silvio Rodriguez 588 Cuban Medical Diplomacy, Julie Feinsilver 590

VIII The "Periodo Especial" and the Future of the Revolution

Silvio Rodriguez Sings of the Special Period, Silvio Rodriguez 599 From Communist Solidarity to Communist Solitary, Susan Eckstein 607 The Revolution Turns Forty, Saul Landau 623 Colonizing the Cuban Body, G. Derrick Hodge 628 Pope John Paul II Speaks in Cuba, Pope John Paul II 635 Emigration in the Special Period, Steve Fainaru and Ray Sdnche^ 6yj The Old Man and the Boy, John Lee Anderson 644 Civil Society, Haroldo Dilla 650 Forty Years Later, Send Pa% 660 A Dissident Speaks Out, Eli^ardo Sdnche^ Santacru^ 664 One More Assassination Plot, Juan Tamayo 666 An Errand in Havana, Miguel Barnet 671 No Turning Back for Johnny, David Mitrani 678

Suggestions for Further Reading 691 Acknowledgment of Copyrights 701 Index 713