Huber Matos, 1918-2014

The legendary Cuban leader Huber Matos died today in Miami at the age of 95.  In his long life he want from farmer and teacher, to military commander, to exile leader.  In October, 1959, he resigned his rank in the Cuban Revolutionary Army.  His resignation letter to Fidel Castro (a copy of which follows) remains one of the key documents in the history of the Cuban Revolution and an eloquent condemnation of its move toward one-party rule.   

Camagüey, octubre 19 de 1959
Dr. Fidel Castro Ruz
Primer ministro
La Habana

Compañero Fidel:

En el día de hoy he enviado al jefe del Estado Mayor, por conducto reglamentario, un radiograma interesando mi licenciamiento del Ejército Rebelde. Por estar seguro que este asunto será elevado a ti para su solución y por estimar que es mi deber informarte de las razones que he tenido para solicitar mi baja del ejército, paso a exponerte las siguientes conclusiones:

Primera: no deseo convertirme en obstáculo de la Revolución y creo que teniendo que escoger entre adaptarme o arrinconarme para no hacer daño, lo honrado y lo revolucionario es irse.

Segunda: por un elemental pudor debo renunciar a toda responsabilidad dentro de las filas de la Revolución, después de conocer algunos comentarios tuyos de la conversación que tuviste con los compañeros Agramonte y Fernández Vilá. Coordinadores Provinciales de Camagüey y La Habana, respectivamente: si bien en esta conversación no mencionaste mi nombre, me tuviste presente. Creo igualmente que después de la sustitución de Duque y otros cambios más, todo el que haya tenido la franqueza de hablar contigo del problema comunista debe irse antes de que lo quiten.

Tercera: sólo concibo el triunfo de la Revolución contando con un pueblo unido, dispuesto a soportar los mayores sacrificios... porque vienen mil dificultades económicas y políticas... y ese pueblo unido y combativo no se logra ni se sostiene si no es a base de un programa que satisfaga parejamente sus intereses y sentimientos, y de una dirigencia que capte la problemática cubana en su justa dimensión y no como cuestión de tendencia ni lucha de grupos.

Si se quiere que la Revolución triunfe, dígase adónde vamos y cómo vamos, óiganse menos los chismes y las intrigas, y no se tache de reaccionario ni de conjurado al que con criterio honrado plantee estas cosas.

Por otro lado, recurrir a la insinuación para dejar en entredicho a figuras limpias y desinteresadas que no aparecieron en escena el primero de enero, sino que estuvieron presentes en la hora del sacrificio y están responsabilizados en esta obra por puro idealismo, es además de una deslealtad, una injusticia, y es bueno recordar que los grandes hombres comienzan a declinar cuando dejan de ser justos.

Quiero aclararte que nada de esto lleva el propósito de herirte, ni de herir a otras personas: digo lo que siento y lo que pienso con el derecho que me asiste en mi condición de cubano sacrificado por una Cuba mejor. Porque aunque tú silencies mi nombre cuando hablas de los que han luchado y luchan junto a ti, lo cierto es que he hecho por Cuba todo lo que he podido ahora y siempre.

Yo no organicé la expedición de Cieneguilla, que fue tan útil en la resistencia de la ofensiva de primavera para que tú me lo agradecieras, sino por defender los derechos de mi pueblo, y estoy muy contento de haber cumplido la misión que me encomendaste al frente de una de las columnas del Ejército Rebelde que más combates libró. Como estoy muy contento de haber organizado una provincia tal como me mandaste.

Creo que he trabajado bastante y esto me satisface porque independientemente del respeto conquistado en los que me han visto de cerca, los hombres que saben dedicar su esfuerzo en la consecución del bien colectivo, disfrutan de la fatiga que proporciona el estar consagrado al servicio del interés común. Y esta obra que he enumerado no es mía en particular, sino producto del esfuerzo de unos cuantos que, como yo, han sabido cumplir con su deber.

Pues bien, si después de todo esto se me tiene por un ambicioso o se insinúa que estoy conspirando, hay razones para irse, si no para lamentarse de no haber sido uno de los tantos compañeros que cayeron en el esfuerzo.

También quiero que entiendas que esta determinación, por meditada, es irrevocable, por lo que te pido no como el comandante Huber Matos, sino sencillamente como uno cualquiera de tus compañeros de la Sierra -¿te acuerdas? De los que salían dispuestos a morir cumpliendo tus órdenes--, que accedas a mi solicitud cuanto antes, permitiéndome regresar a mi casa en condición de civil sin que mis hijos tengan que enterarse después, en la calle, que su padre es un desertor o un traidor.

Deseándote todo género de éxitos para ti en tus proyectos y afanes revolucionarios, y para la patria -agonía y deber de todos- queda como siempre tu compañero,

Huber Matos

La Vuelta Podcast: Energy Reform in Mexico, Latinos and HIV/AIDS in the United States

This month’s episode of La Vuelta Podcast begins with an examination of recent energy policy reforms in Mexico.  Last summer, President Enrique Peña Nieto introduced a series of proposals to end the monopoly of the state-owned PEMEX (Petróleos de Mexico) energy giant by allowing foreign investment in the country’s energy sector.  The move set off a series of high-profile protests by opponents of the Peña Nieto administration, accusing him of compromising the sovereignty of the Mexican state by attacking an institution born, in a celebrated nationalization of foreign oil interests, during the presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas in the 1930s. Noel Maurer, an Associate Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, who has written extensively on the Mexican oil industry, spoke with us about the history of oil and politics in Mexico and the impact that President Peña Nieto’s reforms might have on the Mexican energy sector.

Next, we turned to the complex issue of Latinos and HIV/AIDS infection in the United States.  Recent data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reveal that Latinos are disproportionately infected with HIV.  In a recent article, Erika L. Sánchez, a Chicago-based writer, examined some of the ways in which Latino cultural taboos regarding sex and homosexuality might be influencing the persistence of the disease in the Latino communities of the U.S.  Sánchez joined us to discuss some of the stories she discovered of Latinos infected with HIV/AIDS and the ways in which some Latino communities are responding to this crisis.

La Vuelta's success depends on its supporters and audience.  How can you help?  Here are some suggestions:

• Each episode of the show is available for streaming or download at https://soundcloud.com/lavueltablog.  Follow us on Soundcloud and share our episodes with your friends and colleagues.  And let us know what you think about our show, our guests, or share ideas for future interviews.

• Follow us on Twitter at @lavueltablog where we will be posting updates about guests and upcoming shows as well as regular commentary on Latin American and U.S. Latino affairs.

• Like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/LA-VUELTA/2154469806

• Have you read an article recently about Latin America or Latinos and the U.S. and would like to hear more from the author? Have you published a book or article recently in Latin American or Latino Studies?  Are you or a client working on project that impacts Latin America or Latinos in the U.S.?  Let us know.

Best,

John

Hostos at the Ateneo de Madrid

Eugenio María de Hostos, Woodcut, Lorenzo Homar, 1961
Source: Sala Eugenio María de Hostos. Una invitación para visitar la Biblioteca Nacional de Puerto Rico, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, 2009

Yesterday was the anniversary of the birth of Eugenio María de Hostos, one of the leading lights of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean during the 19^th Century. (Tomorrow, the Puerto Rican government's offices will be closed in honor of Hostos’ birthday.)  A Puerto Rican by birth, Hostos was an American, in the broadest sense of that word, by choice.  He saw in the countries of the Antilles-especially Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic-islands sharing both cultural bonds and political challenges.  His life was dedicated to the independence of the islands from any foreign power, whether in Madrid or in Washington. 

One of Hostos’ clearest arguments in favor of Cuba and Puerto Rico’s independence from Spain was delivered in 1868 in the heart of Spanish intellectual life, El Ateneo de Madrid.  Only a few months earlier, Puerto Rico’s first significant attempt to achieve independence died in the coffee-producing hills near Lares.  Meanwhile, in Cuba, insurgents had started a long and costly war that would do little to resolve the island’s colonial status.  Hostos’ speech at the Ateneo is a pointed and elegant attack against Spanish colonialism and its impact on the peoples of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean.  Spain itself was convulsed by revolution in 1868, and it was Hostos who exposed the hypocrisy of Spaniards who preached liberalism at home but imposed colonialism abroad.

Thanks to the Eugenio Maria de Hostos Community College/CUNY, Hostos’ speech at the Ateneo has been translated into English.  This is part of the college’s great work in preserving his legacy and making some of his work available to English-speakers.  The site is a great place to start to learn about this important figure in the history of the Americas and his life's work in favor of freedom.

Marina Ginestá, Spanish Civil War icon, dies.

The subject of one of the most iconic photographs of the Spanish Civil War has died.  Marina Ginestá, who was photographed by the German Hans Guttman Guster (later Juan Guzmán) in 1936, died in Paris today at the age of 94.  The photograph of a young and defiant Ginestá, taken as she stood guard atop the Hotel Colón in Barcelona at the onset of the Spanish Civil War, was one of many photographs taken by Guttman during his time in Spain as a member of the International Brigades.  Ginestá fled from Spain after the war and settled in the Dominican Republic.  By the mid-1940s, she had run afoul of the Trujillo regime and fled back to Europe.  Guttman too fled Spain at the collapse of the Spanish Republic.  Arriving in Mexico, he became one of the nation’s most important photographers producing a series of images of Mexican artists at work including, most notably, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.

Marina Ginestá,  Hans Guttman Giuster (later Juan Guzmán), Barcelona, 1936.  Image courtesy of Revista Ojos Rojos.

Frida Kahlo, Juan Guzmán, Mexico City, 1951.

La Vuelta Podcast: Press Censorship in Latin America, Elections in Chile

This month's episode of La Vuelta Podcast starts with a conversation about public support for press censorship in Latin America.  We spoke with Mariana Rodriguez, a political scientist at Vanderbilt University's Latin American Public Opinion Project, about her research on press censorship in Latin America and the ways in which Internet access affects Latin American attitudes toward censorship.  

Next, we turned to the most recent elections in Chile.  Kenneth Bunker's quantitative research on politics and elections makes him something like the Nate Silver of Chilean politics.  His website, tresquintos.com, is required reading in Chilean political circles.  We spoke to Bunker just after Michelle Bachelet had won the first round of voting in Chile's presidential election and that victory had left her as the presumptive favorite to win the second round of voting which took place this past weekend.  Bachelet won, of course, but as Bunker points out, getting her legislative agenda through the Chilean Congress will be no easy feat.

You can stream or download La Vuelta's most recent episode at https://soundcloud.com/lavueltablog/la-vuelta-episode-2

La Vuelta's success depends on its supporters and audience.  How can you help?  Here are some suggestions:

• Each episode of the show is available for streaming or download at https://soundcloud.com/lavueltablog.  Follow us on Soundcloud and share our episodes with your friends and colleagues.  And let us know what you think about our show, our guests, or share ideas for future interviews.

• Follow us on Twitter at @lavueltablog where we will be posting updates about guests and upcoming shows as well as regular commentary on Latin American and U.S. Latino affairs.

• Like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/LA-VUELTA/2154469806

• Have you read an article recently about Latin America or Latinos and the U.S. and would like to hear more from the author? Have you published a book or article recently in Latin American or Latino Studies?  Are you or a client working on project that impacts Latin America or Latinos in the U.S.?  Let us know.

Best,

John

La Vuelta Launches Inaugural Podcast

Today, we are happy to launch La Vuelta's inaugural podcast.  Each month, we'll be featuring conversations with writers, policymakers, artists, and others whose work focuses on some aspect of the history, politics or culture of Latin America or the Latino communities of the United States.  Our hope is that La Vuelta becomes a valuable resource for those who care about Latin America or the U.S. Latino experience.

This month's episode features a conversation with Prof. Andy Baker of the University of Colorado at Boulder about his recent research on the scope and nature of anti-Americanism in Latin America.  We also speak with Liliana Gamboa, coordinator for the Open Society Justice Initiative project on antidiscrimination in the Dominican Republic, about a recent ruling by the island's Constitutional Court that threatens to strip thousands of persons of Haitian descent of their Dominican citizenship.

Of course, La Vuelta's success will depend on its supporters and audience.  How can you help?  Here are some suggestions:

• Each episode of the show is available for streaming or download at https://soundcloud.com/lavueltablog.  Follow us on Soundcloud and share our episodes with your friends and colleagues.  And let us know what you think about our show, our guests, or share ideas for future interviews.
• Follow us on Twitter at @lavueltablog where we will be posting updates about guests and upcoming shows as well as regular commentary on Latin American and U.S. Latino affairs.
• Like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/LA-VUELTA/2154469806
• Have you read an article recently about Latin America or Latinos and the U.S. and would like to hear more from the author? Have you published a book or article recently in Latin American or Latino Studies?  Are you or a client working on project that impacts Latin America or Latinos in the U.S.?  Let us know.

We are very excited about the future of La Vuelta and hope that you'll join us and spread the word.

Thanks,

John

PS: La Vuelta is produced by Anoah Levine at the studios of John Jay College/CUNY in New York.

Lo Prometido es Deuda

I know, I know.  It's all about gun control and the debt ceiling right now.  But eventually, as this piece from NPR shows pretty clearly, people are going to tire of an administration that talks about immigration reform but does precious little to actually make it happen.  Hay que ponerse los pantalones, Mr. President.