CUBA: OLD AND NEW COMMUNISTS IN CUBA

It's been fifty years since Fidel Castro and his Argentine companion Ernesto Che Guevara made their way into Cuba's Sierra Maestra mountains to launch an armed revolt that was to change the course of the country's history forever. Now, as the ageing leader hands over power for the first time since he led his guerrillas in revolution, the nation waits to see how Cuba will adapt to life without Castro at the helm. But despite the changes afoot, the Sierra Maestra hills that once sheltered revolutionary guerrillas preparing for war, seem to be frozen in time. And despite the passage of time, veterans who fought to overthrow the rightwing dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista's regime say they would do the same again if they could. Mario Bruquera lives in a home for veterans of the revolution. Although he's no longer a young man, he is adamant that he would give his life over again to fight for the cause he still fervently believes in. "I am just sorry to have only one life to give to the cause. And that is what I'm sorry about. I am old and sick now, I can't be in the front line any more as I would like," he said. According to Bruquera, speaking before news broke of Fidel's illness, Cuba remains enamoured with the elder Castro. "Fidel is held in such high regard by the people that if he says tomorrow everyone has to wear a blue shirt, don't doubt it, ninety percent of us Cubans will go around with a blue shirt the next day, because the Cuban people, as I see it, is more Fidel-ist than communist," he said. Bruquera is not the only one who is keeping the revolutionary spirit alive. One traditional Cuban folk group that played a special part in the country's famous Revolution, is still going strong almost fifty years later, supporting Fidel through song. Quinteto Rebelde was born in the midst of the guerrilla war. The group composed legendary songs that were broadcast by the rebel's radio station from a mountain-top to the surrounding peasant communities and towns. The musicians even went to war singing parodies of Batista through loudspeakers. In the crucial battle of Santo Domingo, they carried down loudspeakers on mules and called on Batista's soldiers between songs to give up fighting, as mortar shells exploded nearby. Group leader Alejandro Medina said they told Castro before the battle they needed guns to fight, and he replied that they had the best weapon in the Sierra, the ideological weapon of their songs, so they went to the front with their musical instruments. "He told us that the best weapon there was in the mountains was the one we had, that it was the ideological weapon. When someone is not schooled and has a low level of culture, he doesn't understand the content. But we knew that after the revolution triumphed, then we knew what the ideological weapon could do to demoralize the enemy," said Medina. But as the years roll by, the original generation of revolutionaries is inevitably dying out and being replaced by a new breed of communist. And as Castro himself ages and weakens, the onus is on a new generation to keep the revolution alive. Young Cubans pledge themselves as 'pioneers' from an early age, promising to dedicate their lives to the leaders of the revolution. At around five years ago, all Cuban children are given their first blue neckerchief, to wear to school and indicate their allegiance to the revolution, as they recite: "I want to dedicate my scarf to Che (Guevara), Camilo (Cienfuegos) and my commander Fidel, pioneers for communism. We will be like Che," vowing to emulate the legendary Argentine Ernesto Che Guevara who fought alongside Castro and helped form the new government after Batista was overthrown. From primary school through to third level, students are inculcated with their government's communist teachings, and most eventually go on to become members of the communist party, joining the youth branches in their adolescence. For most, it's a source of pride to be bestowed with a membership card for the party to which they are happy to pledge allegiance. "It's an honour and source of pride for me to receive today, on the eve of April 4, on the day of this organization, to receive this card that names me as a member of communist youth. I am content," said one new member. Young communists also take part in community projects, working for the revolution at places like fuel supply service centres. One young member of communist youth spoke of how he learned to overcome an initial fear when he started his community work. "When I arrived here, they told me that I had to work in a service centre. I was a little bit afraid, because I thought I wouldn't have enough fuel, but no, they taught me, I learned and here I am," he said. Many in Cuba, young and old, are welcoming of the changes the revolution has brought to the country. The big landowners are long gone, their sugar cane plantations expropriated by the state and turned into worker cooperatives. The ruling Communist Party decides most aspects of people's lives. And with widespread illiteracy eradicated early on under Castro, many Cubans like Jendry Hernandez have the chance to continue their studies through to university level. For Hernandez, recently graduated as a lawyer, each generation has its own part to play in the Cuban revolution, which he sees as a continuous endeavour. "It's up to each person to do what they have to do in their time. It was up to young people of the centenary generation to take up arms and go to the Sierra Maestra. Young people these days, young communists from the University Student Federation, from the Union of Young Communists, it's our turn for the idea, the battle of thought, of action, but from another perspective, from the classrooms, carrying on the revolution from another point of view, that is what we must do. The revolution is already done, it just has to be maintained, and we have developed ourselves in this area, trying to develop the revolution," he explained. His enthusiasm is echoed in young communists who vow to be there for their Commandante Fidel, "wherever, however and for whatever." If the clamour of young voices is to be believed, the revolution lives on some fifty years since it was initiated in Cuba's Sierra Maestra, even as its leader steps down. The news that Castro had handed power to his brother Raul after intestinal surgery sparked street dancing in the Cuban exile district of Miami where Castro's enemies, backed by the United States, yearn for the demise of the West's only communist government. But as the whole world watches to see how Cuba will unfold as the first generation of revolutionaries move into their twilight years, a new breed of revolutionaries who have grown up under the Castro regime are already pledging to take their place.

ITN Source | August 7, 2006

Tags:. .unfold. .domingo. .twilight. .cane. .raul