Cuban Libraries Support Group

Appendix 1

A Short Story

Rogelio Travieso Perez gave me a copy of a short story which he had written, dedicated to his mother, who had an operation for cancer of the colon in October 1999. The story is based on his mother's memories of life before the Revolution. The general tenor of the story is that life was better before the Revolution. Here are some extracts :

"There were bad times but also better times, but never like nowadays ! We didn't go hungry during the bad times".

"What is happening today, having two or three families living in one house did not happen in those days."

"The family became members of the Quinta de la Habana (Health Service) by paying $2.50 per person per month. The treatment, the food, the hygiene everything was working wonderfully. In town there was only one doctor and you could call him at anytime you needed him ; he prescribed you medicines and it was all paid for by the Quinta."

"We bought a house with land to grow produce. The cost of repairs and maintenance was paid by the mill. We had all modern electric conveniences, including an electric cooker. 45 years later we cook in a Picker cooker. Everything was beautiful and clean. Everything was so nice. But today that makes you cry".

"My two sons worked on a golf course at the mill and earned more than 20 dollars a month. Which one of you can earn that amount today."

The reality of life in Cuba before the Revolution was far different from Rogelio's fictional account. An article in "Granma International"(28 May 2000) gives an insight into what conditions were really like in Cuba before 1959 :

"Prudencio Echevarria saw his mother aged 58 die because she had been evicted and had no medical help. He saw his sister who was pregnant with twins die in the street. He saw a six year old girl die from an infestation of intestinal worms. He saw them con his father, an illiterate man, into signing a supposed contract for a farm, when in fact he signed away his rights to the small patch of land he cultivated. Scenes such as these were a common experience in Cuba's countryside, before the Revolution.

Jose Morales lived on land owned by United Fruit. In order to take a sick person to the little hospital, owned by Americans, in the town of Preston, one had to have a numbered badge, as if they were slaves. Two of Morale's close relatives died because they did not have that badge."

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For more information about the Cuban Libraries Support Group, contact John Pateman at John.Pateman@merton.gov.uk

John Pateman is a member of the Society of Chief Librarians and has visited Cuban libraries in 1993, 1995, 1999 and 2000.

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