Being extremely risk averse, I seldom stray beyond the bounds of the law. Granted, I once had sex with another man just north of the Limpopo. It was consensual and, to be frank, quite delicious. But unlawful nevertheless. Luckily, however, the privacy of our coupe on the night train to Mutare secured our liberty. Steamy windows aside, the compartment on wheels provided us with a much-needed safe space.
As is to be expected, my ordinarily conservative behaviour has not gone unrewarded. On the rare occasion I have found myself in a police station, it has only been to report a home break-in or a stolen car radio. And the only time I have ever spent in prison was for work, representing inmates with HIV in their successful legal action against one of the country’s worst ministers. I know, competition in that regard is fierce.
But my luck changed on Christmas day, when two friends and I set out for dinner in Old Havana. Tony, a forty-something English gentleman who was born and spent the first twenty or so years of his life in Georgia, is short and black. His partner Chris, also in his late 40s, is tall and white. Neither speaks much Spanish, notwithstanding the latter’s daily lessons in the living room of our casa particular.
As we were crossing Central Park, Tony was approached by a police officer demanding his “documentos”. As he had done on numerous occasions before when singled out in this way, Tony declared his tourist status, stated that he had no documents on him and simply walked away. A week in Cuba had made it clear that he was being stopped only because he is black. But this time was to be different.
One of the official reasons for requesting documents from persons suspected of being Cuban is to protect tourists from being harassed by locals. Another is to stamp out the burgeoning sex industry, which thrives in a climate where a single blow-job earns you more than the average monthly wage. Whatever the motivation, it results in black people – whether local or foreign – being harassed when in the company of whites.
After a minor scuffle and a short wait, our officious law enforcer’s call for backup – or assistance, or direction, or whatever – resulted in him being joined by a colleague. Not long thereafter two more cops pulled up in their Soviet-era Lada. After some angry comments that none of us understood, the chubbier of the new arrivals gestured for us to get inside. Easier said than done in a car clearly not built for comfort.
As someone who is well aware of police brutality at home, which is well recorded in official reports, court judgments and the like, I was somewhat concerned when our captors drove away from the local police station in the direction of the tunnel leading out of the city. Add to that an unhealthy dose of Semitic doom – if something can go wrong it will – and you have visions of being left for dead in an open field.
Strong policing means that in Cuba the chances of being the victim of violent crime are quite slim. So instead of having to face our demons, we were soon dropped off at a second police station in the historic heart of the old city. After a fifth police official considered our matter, we were finally delivered to an immigration official with a rudimentary knowledge of English and a penchant for dated soap operas.
While the lawfulness of our visit to the island nation was being determined, my attention alternated between the bad television on offer and the even worse story being told by an older Dutch man who had somehow “lost” his passport and simultaneously “fallen” on his face. My money was on a much simpler story, which apparently plays out day after day after day: sex, money and theft, in that order.
After establishing that we were indeed registered at our casa, we were sent on our way. For me, that was the end of the story. But for my friends, who remained in the city for another week, yet another trip to a police station – for the same reason – was on the cards. That time the two of them were to be handcuffed to each other. Their dinner companion, a tall white Croatian, had his hands cuffed behind his back.
According to Tony, Havana’s finest also set up patrols one night all along the street where our casa is located. Armed with a list, they entered the building across the road and returned with a bunch of people who were loaded onto a truck. They were not the first, or the last, to be taken away. So too were a couple and their baby, as well as the pram they had been pushing down the street. Every single detained person was black.
In searching for press statements issued in response to the recent Supreme Court of Appeals decision regarding Jacob Zuma’s travails, I came across a glowing Young Communist League account of two comrades’ recent trip to Cuba to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the revolution. Funny, but I wasn’t so easily impressed by a racist police state run by a largely white, unelected gerontocracy. Nor was I convinced that, but for the unjustifiable embargo, Cuba’s economy would be booming.
Blaming all of the country’s woes on arrogant, anachronistic and misguided US foreign policy is – at best – disingenuous. At worst, it’s nothing more than complicity in the continued oppression of a truly beautiful people. It might be cool to brandish images of Che, or to decry all things American, but true friends of Cuba need to speak out in support of those in whose name the revolution was executed. Will they do so if and when an Obama administration does the right thing?
The more unlawful it is the more fun it is, so enjoy your adventures although you almost made my eyes pop out of their sockets.
…and everytime I mention being harassed at airports and train stations to my white & black friends they tend to think I am exaggerating and/or too concerned with racial issues.
Just got to Istanbul last night, the immigration guy called his colleague and together scanned my passport for some time, I then offered my ID too to emphasize the point that it is me for good-sake. They could not believe that I am here with a business visa – the guy actually said to me that I look too young to be working – try some other excuse!
Five hours before that on my transit in Dubai, some guy was going around to only the black people and asking for ‘document’.
I have been harassed so many times during my travelling that I actually prepare for it – sad ain’t it!
Glad someone white mentioned it, if it came from me it would be such a clichè
Hi Jonathan;-) Always a pleasure to read your work. Thanks for the lesser known issue of Cuban racism to our attention.
“It might be cool to brandish images of Che…”
I’ve read that the revolution in general, and Che in particular, persecuted, imprisoned, and executed homosexuals. How cool is that really, if it’s true?
My daughter and I went to Cuba in December 2007 (we are black). We experienced the discrimination first hand.
At our hotel, whilst waiting for the lift with some white people from the UK, we were confronted by a belligerent security gaurd demanding our documents. Being South African I demanded to know why she was not asking the white people we were wih for their documents, she continued to insist on these until the people at the reception desk intervened on our behalf.
At the Mellia Havana we experienced this again on more than one occassion when we went into the restaurant and nobody would serve us(most hotel staff are white as this is a foreign currency job with tips and is thus seen as better than being a doctor, teacher or engineer) until we kicked up a fuss and of course the only black waiter present was the one that came to serve us. We experienced this culture of being ignored or documents being demanded on numerous occassions.
Our revenge was that we sought out the one black porter, waiter and security gaurd and gave them really big tips in euro’.
We spoke to some black Cubans about the anomoly of them being the majority, but white cubans being over represented in the tourism sector. They were very bitter and frank in their responses, saying that the woman had an IT degree) even to be a security guard in a tourist hotel, they would have to pay a bribe of 500 euros and black cubans generally do not have relatives in senior government posts who have access to hard currency, nor do they generally have relatives outside cuba who can send them hard currency, so these jobs would always be out of their reach. For them (black cubans) they were destined to be street hustlers or join the military
When you are part of a government delegation or a sympathetic political organisation, you are largely protected from this racism.
Am amazed how Cuba has got away for so long being ruled by a ‘white’ ruling elite from the top down to the upper layers of power. In a country that is mostly ‘Black’ like the rest of the Caribbean it remains the only one with mostly ‘white’ leadership. Even the US (70% white population), now is getting a ‘Black’ president. Hope it makes the lefty supporters of Fidel etc think before blindly supporting a white fascist dictatorship.
Brent
PS – can anyone advise me another country other than the US where a person from a minority has been elected (as opposed to using the gun) to power.
And the ANC government lent nearly a billion rand of taxpayers money to Cuba, and then wrote it off as irrecoverable.
Damn! You’ve opened my eyes. I have always condemned the US with their vicious Cuban blindspot (and still do), but was unaware that Cuba have a white minority regime!
Damn! Is nothing simple any more?!
ooh, latin american racism.
i’ve talked about it extensively on one [or several] of my blogs.
white latin americans, and white cubans in particular, are the reason that i did not pack up my bags and move to miami when my financial situation became quite dire in late 2006 and early 2007.
but the racism throughout latin america is just really atrocious. being black and “rich” while growing up [in part] in latin america just asked for trouble.
i have three friends whose parents had the option to raise them as pardos in brazil or as coloureds in apartheid south africa. their parents chose the nats. it’s *that* bad.
many people seem to not remember that much of castro’s support during the guerrilla war came from the fact that batista was black. [and, by the way, bastista -- despite being the dictator -- was still barred entry from most of the 'best' clubs in havana; he had to build his own.
if you can understand spanish, you'll get a kick out of the following clip, sent to me by a friend who lives in colombia. the bouncer and the couple are actors. the 'bouncer' is barring all black people [ie the 'couple'] entry from the club, and calling them monkey, saying they smell bad, etc.
even if you don’t understand spanish, you should be able to count the number of people who try to defend the couple.
here’s the link, it’s not letting me embed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzOLVBz38NU
brent: peru’s demographics are a lot like those of south africa [if you use "indigenous" to refer to the people who were there when the white folks arrived].
their first non-white president was fujimori. their first indigenous president was toledo. [ie, the president *after* fujimori.]
ecuador has had 4 arab presidents; argentina has had 1.
Tks Mundundu, nice to learn things from different people instead of fightening with them which seems to happen on blogs like Thoughtleader.
Amazed at the deathly silence from the trendy lefties, must be soooo difficult not instantly jumping to Fidel’s defence, guess racialism is very difficult even for them to defend.
An aside, in spite of the US embargo, Cuba’s 3rd biggest income is remittances of hated Yankee dollars from Cuban Americans legally sent back home plus picked up from a Conservative US site (so not sure of it’s truth) that legal two way trade between the US and Cuba is in the region of +- $2bilion per year – makes you think hopefully.
My view is that the US sanctions on Cuba has been the single biggest reason in keeping Fidel and his thugs in power, free borders promote development and weakening of dictatorships.
Brent
I read in an article that Castro turned a blind eye to people “escaping” Cuba on leaking boats. They needed those remittances of American dollars.
When Mandela and the Treason trialists were in the dock, a lot of western do-gooders were “observing” in SA. One of the senior judges at the time suggested they fly home via Cuba and see how Castro was executing all his opposition, summarily, without a trial. I found the story very funny. Remember that in SA they DID have a trial and they were NOT executed.
Mundundu
Are not both white and black in Cuba non-indigeneous? The blacks are the descendents of the slaves. I don’t know who the indigeneous population was, if there was one. Do you?
Can anyone explain how Guantanamo prison is in Cuba, bearing in mind American/Cuban relations?
two back to back comments of sheer idiocy. JFGI is extremely appropriate for the second, while the first requires a bit of thought.
but then again, if my son’s schoolbooks are of any example, they didn’t really talk about the genocide of most of the natives in the americas. [strange, though, because they did in my schools in europe and in kenya].
gotta love south african education.
i’ll answer the first, the second you can look up for yourself [yes, i know the answer. it's real easy, too. god.]
all of the indigenous populations in the caribbean are gone; the arawak reservation on dominica is more hype than reality.
the fact that they are gone is the main reason that africans were brought in as slaves, so i’m guessing that “bartolomeo de las casas” means nothing to you.
the marielitos [ie the people who left in 1979-81] were all either a)criminals, b) political prisoners or c) people related to either set of people. basically castro largely emptied his jails and sent them to the usa.
coincidentally, this included the first major wave of *non-white* cubans to the usa. south florida is, for all intents and purposes, 1950s cuba [or almost anywhere else] as far as racial attitudes are concerned. i speak spanish, so there is no way i could live there. i’d end up in jail for stabbing the *second* white person to say something stupid to me.
because of helms-burton, it would not be a shock to see if remittances are the third largest source of income in the cuba. helmns-burton is a ridiculously obscene law. it also helps explain the reason that most of the “new” cars in cuba are peugeots and fiats.
[helms-burton: if your company does business of any kind in the usa, then it cannot do business in cuba. if caught doing so, officials may be arrested, and foreign ones may lose their visas or have their assets frozen. peugeot doesn't sell cars in the united states, so they're free to trade in cuba.]
brent, i would add that the arabs in latin america, as are the japanese, are very much part of the “white power structure” and are thus subject to very little of the BS that goes to people with “visible” black ancestry.
this is an important plot point.