Category: José Gabriel Barrenechea

No one would ever dream that Méndez, an avowed enemy of the yanquis and the artist behind the anti-U.S. images on the painting that was replaced, would now be willing to work on a mural whose artists were clearly prohibited from making even a veiled criticism of the neighbor to the North. “There better not be any flags on the military uniforms!” was the order of the cultural authorities to the artists and sign makers who undertook the project.

The reasons behind replacing the old mural are not clear either. It is true that the wall on which the mural hung was in a deplorable state. Rumor had it that intelligence agent Gerardo Hernández Nordelo would surely display his own drawings on that wall, but that has not happened. Still, it may. In the next few months they may decide to fill the space they left blank, before graffiti artists get to it first.

*Translator’s Note: Part of Vanguardia, the Communist Party newspaper of Villa Clara Province.

Translated by José Badué

— Supplement to 14ymedio article: Photos of sections of the old mural —

The proof of this not only lies in Russia’s Christian tradition, but more importantly, it is one of the countries that has influenced Western culture the most. If you make a list of the ten most important figures in any scientific field, technology, the arts, music, philosophical inquiry, or of the literature of our Western civilization that have paved innovative and unforeseen paths, said list would invariably include at least one Russian surname.

Russia’s problem has been, as compared, for example, to France or Spain, that the segment of its society that has supported rationalism (and I mean rationalism as defined by Karl Popper) has not been able to replace the traditional and instinctively Russian characteristics of its society. As a matter of fact, Russian rationalism, which peaked at the end of the 19^th century until approximately 1925, has been repeatedly purged by a pseudo-rationalistic survival method derived from tradition and national instincts. This pseudo-rationalism, a form of modernized half-baked Asiatic culture, started winning the race once the Bolshevik counterrevolution dissolved the constitutional convention of 1917, culminating with Stalin’s rise to power.

Needles to say, the continuing success of “Asiatic culture” in Russia has had a lot to do with mistaken impression the rest of the West has of it. This was understandable when the West indisputably ruled the world, and every nation fought for its piece of the pie. But now that is not the case at all. It is very clear that in this moment in time our civilization and its values are beginning to lose the unrestricted worldwide supremacy they once enjoyed.

Western civilization should try to do away with the anachronistic last vestiges of bloody civil wars, and what we call world wars, all waged for the sake of global domination. The West should attempt to lure Russia into joining the consensus building and security structures that have been gradually established since 1945. For this to work we should bear in mind that Russia is not a second or third-rate country. Russia has a genuine imperial tradition. In other words, Russia is not Poland, Czechoslovakia, nor even Turkey. Russia cannot be asked to just fall in line. It should be given its rightful place among the great nations.

Around 1920, José Ortega y Gasset said that Europe would unite only when it saw the enemy coming over the horizon. That danger exists today, and not only for Europe, but also for the whole West, and it comes from authoritarian China, and particularly, the Islamic world. China is a traditional empire with incredible rates of economic expansion. The Islamic world is experiencing an explosive demographic growth. While in the West, the United States is the only country whose population is increasing.

Jihadism threatens Russia’s entire southern flank, and after the disastrous Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, many Islamists perceive Moscow as the perfect personification of the enemy, more than they even do Washington. Or at least Moscow is the enemy they can hurt with greater ease. As far as China is concerned, not only does it threaten Russia’s Far East, it has now started expanding into it. It should be noted that the population density on the border between the two countries is 62 percent higher on the Chinese side than on the Russian. The Russian Far East is full of natural resources that the country cannot exploit in the face of an expanding China that needs them more and more.

In the next few years, when the Arctic Ocean is opened for navigation, Moscow will not benefit if it does not by that time exercise total control over its Far East, and especially its Pacific coast. Russia will need to maintain a naval force in that ocean, which in itself clashes with the Chinese strategic interest of controlling all its adjacent seas, and what they call “the first island chain” that surround them: Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Australia.

Therefore both nations are already clashing on the continental mainland and on the ocean, and in the future they will do so with even more force.

In the face of all the jingoism of recent years, the first step should be changing the way the average Westerner sees Russia. The cultural achievements of the rational segment of Russian society should be disseminated throughout the whole West. The rediscovery of Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Tchaikovsky, Mendeleev, Lobachevsky, Chekhov, Eisenstein, Shostakovich, Tarkovsky… could help change the perception that the average Westerner has of Russia. Meanwhile, Western admiration for Russian rationalism might motivate the Russians to rediscover it for themselves.

Saving Russia is of vital importance. In the first place, it is part of our civilization, and secondly, because the West finds itself under threat. Only an alliance between the Russian bear and the American bald eagle could perhaps save them from being subordinated by other civilizations that are on the rise.

Cuba can play a significant role in the rapprochement between these two giants that Alejo Carpentier described as being situated at the two extremes of the West. It would be a very, very positive step if Raúl Castro were to realize this before embarking on his next visit to Russia to attend the festivities of the victory over Nazi Germany. If this were the case, and Castro were to indeed try to do something to secure a rapprochement, he could secure a legacy for himself and significantly bolster Cuba’s prestige as well.

Translated by José Badué

It is hard to believe that a lawyer as brilliant as Fidel Castro would have been unfamiliar with these international conventions. Unless, of course, we wish to believe those dubious sources claiming Fidel Castro’s schooling left much to be desired, and that he earned his grades only thanks to the help of his trusted friend, a Colt .45 pistol.

The following are eleven cases I have chosen from the extensive list of victims published in the back pages of the Cuban weekly magazine Bohemia in its first three issues of January 1959: the misnamed (only time would teach us how misnamed) “Special Liberty Editions.” Among the murders, battles, and executions listed, I have selected only a few of the Revolutionary attacks that left innocent victims.

I should make it clear that my source is incomplete: it references the list of the Bohemia journalists, who compiled it hastily during the first few days of January 1959, based almost exclusively on press releases of the time. It should also be noted that the Cuban press was subject to censorship by the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista for virtually the entire time between 1956 until December 31, 1958. Consequently, many events went unrecorded.

February 22, 1955

Antonio Goulet, sixty years old, father of Corporal Dionisio Goulet, an army barber, was killed, mangled by a bomb at his home on 112 Cuartel de Pardos Street, Santiago de Cuba. The elder Goulet’s fifteen-year-old granddaughter Emilia Iris Tabares was also injured in the attack.

January 1, 1957

Magaly Martínez Arredondo, 17, residing at 12021 69^th Avenue in Marianao, was injured when a bomb exploded at Havana’s Tropicana Nightclub, resulting in one of her arms having to be amputated. Marta Pino Donosos, 18 years old, living at 12209 69^th Avenue, Marianao, was also injured in the attack.

January 15, 1957

An emergency judiciary investigation was launched into a bombing on 21^st Street, between 14^th and 16^th Street in Vedado, which injured Amada Apezteguía Armenteros and Nilda Llorente Carrascal.

Juan Pío Manresa, residing at 323 Virtudes Street in the city of Santa Clara, was injured when an explosive device went off at the corner of Virtudes and Lucena Streets in that same city.

Victoria Rodríguez, 33, residing at 256 Arrellano Street, and a seventy-year-old senior citizen, Tito Mayea Villalobos, residing at 318 Enma Street, were critically injured when a bomb exploded next to them at the corner of Fábrica and Concha Streets in Havana.

January 23, 1957

Oliverio González Mesa, 35, was killed, mangled by a bomb placed in front of the mansion owned by his employer Luciano Sampedro, located between 6^th and 7^th Avenue in Miramar. González Mesa had worked at the mansion as a cook for two years.

March 9, 1957

Luís González García, a twelve-year-old boy residing at 108 Jenaro Sánchez Street, suffered critical wounds when sticks of dynamite he found at the beach exploded in his hands.

April 27, 1957

Havana was rocked by eight separate bombings in eight separate businesses in a single day. The following were injured as a result: Carolina Torrente Fernández, 27, residing at 64 Tenerife Street; Ramón Fernández, 28, a resident of Rosalía District; and Faustino Cancedo, 61, residing at 66 Bejucal Avenue.

August 3, 1957

Mrs. Lidya Dorado was killed by a powerful bomb explosion on Trocha Street in Santiago de Cuba. Police Officer Arvelio Martín Céspedes was also critically injured.

August 5, 1957

Mercedes Díaz Sánchez del Águila, a resident of Milagros Street, was killed when a bomb exploded at the Ten Cents Department Store on the corner of Galiano and San Rafael Streets in Downtown Havana. Seriously injured were Lidia González Rebull, from Fontanar District; Etelvina Arencibia Gil, residing at 358 Franklin Street; Lidia Bular Barquet, 19 years old, resident of Vedado; Gladys Valdivieso, residing at 532 Parque Street; and Nelson Huerta Truichet, 72 years, and resident of the city of Marianao.

August 12, 1957

Alfonso Vivero, 43, from the beach town of Santa Fe, was rushed to an emergency room in critical condition after a bomb exploded at the dry cleaners on Luz Street, between Habana and Compostela Streets in Old Havana.

August 14, 1957

A bomb exploded at Havana’s Manzana de Gómez retail and office complex, killing José Martínez, 65, who resided at 4 Cuarteles Street.

September 3, 1957

Eusebia Díaz Páez, a young lady of 19, who resided at 3 Ángeles Street in the city of Guanabacoa was killed, mutilated when a bomb exploded in the ladies’ room of the América movie theater in Havana.

And now for some final thoughts.

In his book, Descamisados (“The Shirtless Ones”), Brigadier General Enrique Acevedo tells us that shortly after he began to publicly stand out as the most active revolutionaries in his town, a military official loyal to the Batista régime waited for him in a secluded place and threatened to kill him if something were to happen to the official’s family. As I cited earlier, the terrorist killings of people such as Antonio Goulet did not come without a price. We should not be surprised if we found Corporal Goulet’s name among those who were executed in the early months of 1959 for having “gotten even” with one or several revolutionaries.

Still today the death of Agustín “Chiqui” Gómez Lubián is officially commemorated in Santa Clara. There are even schools named after him. In other words, these schools carry the name of a terrorist who together with a partner was killed when a bomb they planned to throw through a window of the Provincial Government headquarters fell a few yards short of its objective, in Buen Viaje Street. The victims of this heroic act would have surely been the secretaries and archivists working in the building, or some of the readers in the public library located on the ground floor. Neither the Provincial Governor nor any other figure associated with the Batista régime would have been injured or killed since their offices were on the second floor, or in windowless offices in the back of the first floor.

The commemoration of this event enjoys ample coverage in Vanguardia, the puny Official Communist Party newspaper of Villa Clara Province, as does the death of Sergio González, alias “Curita,” material and intellectual author of many of the attacks mentioned above. This demonstrates that the Castro régime still exalts its terrorist roots, regardless of what it wants to make us believe when it wraps itself in the lily white tunics of its historic discourse.

Terrorists like Luis Posada Carriles* do not graduate from some sinister, clandestine CIA academy. Perhaps the CIA did indeed ultimately shape him into the coldblooded murderer he became, but people such as he grew up admiring individuals like “Curita” and “Chiqui” Gómez. Posada Carriles, no matter hos much the regime’s intellectual spokesmen, such Abel Prieto, Miguel Barnet, Fernando Martínez Heredia, or Esteban Morales want to deny it, is a more legitmate heir of the Revolution of 1959 than they themselves are.

* Translator’s note: Accused by the régime of being the mastermind behind the 1976 terrorist bombing of Cubana Airlines Flight 455 near Barbados, killing 73 passengers, and several other terrorist attacks. Posada Carriles currently lives in Miami.

Translated by José Badué