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 Andy Petit
Writer
Andy looks for the facts that don't fit the accepted patterns. A citoyen
from an old school French family living in the US, he is interested by the similarities between France, Cuba
and all of Latin America in their concepts of
republics, especially as relates to race and ethnic identities. He has been writing on AfroCuban culture since 1997. He is
grateful to his friend, Havana Radio journalist and activist Eugene
Godfried, who gave him an impeccable introduction to the intricacies of
Cuban culture and politics.
andy_AT_afrocubaweb.com [_AT_ = @]
Writings
Fidel, Ché and the post 1959 Executions: Post 1945 Executions of Nazis and
Nazi Collaborators 12/10/2016 AfroCubaWeb: "In 1945, thousands of
nazis and nazi collaborators were executed across Europe. In France alone,
"9,000 were summarily executed during the liberation campaign, 1,500 were
executed after a trial, and 40,000 were sentenced to prison." In
Czechoslovakia, 30,000 German civilians were summarily murdered while 3
million were expelled to Germany."
Fidel Castro Ruz: Race in Cuba 12/1/2016 AfroCubaWeb
Revisiting the
Quinquenio Gris,
1971-1976, 9/30/13, AfroCubaWeb
Maceo - Martí: why did the
image of Antonio Maceo disappear after the Revolution?
5/14/13, AfroCubaWeb
NED funded Black Cuban dissidents visit
Pittsburgh for AfricAméricas Week, 5/11/13 AfroCubaWeb
Prominent Cubans are defending Zurbano's right to talk about racism
4/7/2013 AfroCubaWeb
Los comentarios sobre "Para los negros en Cuba, la Revolución no ha
comenzado" 4/4/2013 AfroCubaWeb
Comments on "For Blacks in Cuba, the Revolution Hasn't Begun" 4/4/2013
AfroCubaWeb
El Consejo Supremo de la Asociación Abacuá de Cuba - Buro Abakuá
12/1/2012 AfroCubaWeb: ...the
Buro was originally a creation of the authentic Abakuá potentias.
In 1960 as Cuba was nationalizing all property, some
Abakuá leaders drew a line and said: "We
need separation between state and religion. Abakuá
is a religion. We are more Cuban than the palm tree. Leave us alone." They
created a "Buro Abakuá" to confront the excesses
of the Revolution. That didn't work: in 1967 the state prohibited any
Abakuá initiation. This lasted until 1977. From
1960 to 1991, the state trained Abakuá initiates
to infiltrate the lodges and spy, and they sought
the complete integration of Abakuá into the
state. Possibly some of the comrades were reacting to
the presence of former Batistianos in the lodges, but there are former
Batistianos across most aspects of Cuban life! This is a case of
over-reaching, excessive state control. There were also a number of
comrades in the lodges, it is a religion, not a political organization."
Supressing a Public Pilgrimage: Day of the 5 Abakwá - 27th of November
12/2/2012 AfroCubaWeb: "The Abakwá parade parallels another parade from
the University of Havana to the same monument at La Punta, a traditional
parade that has been held for many years and was held again this year to
honor the fallen students and a Spanish army captain who broke his sword
over his knee to protest the executions, thereby ending his career. This
parade would never mention the 5 Abakwá. They may be doing that now,
although the official press articles about them tend not to. However, this
year various sources in Havana confirm that the Abakwá parade going down
the Paseo del Prado to La Punta was forbidden and an impressive contingent
of police as well as a Rapid Response Brigade was on hand to enforce the
prohibition."
Ataque de un escuadron de la muerte al palacio del Obong del Calabar
8/25/2008 AfroCubaWeb: "El lunes 25 de agosto del 2008,10 miembros de un
escuadron de la muerte del grupo ISAKABA atacaron el palacio donde recidia
el Sr Bassey Ekpo Bassey, Obong del Calabar quien ha sido un baluarte en el
apoyo y reconocimiento del Abacua cubano. Este grupo criminal es apoyado
por el corrupto gobernador Imoke del estado del Rio la cruz."
Isakaba Death Squad attacks Obong Palace in Nigeria's Calabar 8/25/2008 AfroCubaWeb: "On
Monday, August 25, 2008, a 10 member Isakaba death squad attacked the
Palace of the traditional ruler of the Efik, Obong Bassey Ekpo Bassey, who
is close to the Cuban Abakuá. The death squad is under the protection of
Nigeria's Cross River State and its corrupt Governor Imoke."
Entrevista con Eugène Godfried: Una llamada para el dialogo sobre la
masacre de 1912 10/5/2007 AfroCubaWeb: "Yo me encontraba en Grenada
invitado por el Primer Ministro Maurice Bishop con una pequena delegación
de Curazao. Estando en esta isla el barco XX Aniversario de Cuba visitó el
Puerto de Saint Georges capital de esta tierra. El barco venía de
Carifesta que acababa de celebrarse en la vecina isla de Barbados. Contaba
con una cantidad elevada de artistas y trabajadores culturales de al
rededor 200 personas. Estaban programados realizar presentaciones
culturales para los trabajadores cubanos del aeropuerto y otras esferas
así como para el pueblo de Grenada. Duramte estos días yo estaba también
en contacto con la embajada cubana y su primer secretario Gaston Diaz y el
embajador Rizo. Me incluyeron en todas las programaciones efectuadas por
el conjunto de artistas y trabajadores culturales del barco XX
Aniversario. Me presentaron e introdujeron a una gran variedad de
personalidades culturales incluyendo a Pedro Izquierdo - "Pello el
Afrokan" – con quien hice muy buena amistad. Estos artistas enfatizaban su
pertenencia al Caribe y me hablaban del componente africano en la cultura
cubana. Todos me habían hecho indicaciones de lo ocurrido en 1912, pero
nadie se profundizaba en ello. Antetodo era importante entender la
situación general de los descendientes de africanos en Cuba. Eduardo
Rivero Walker me dio informaciones de la presencia de los inmigrantes
angloparlantes del Caribe en Cuba. Electo Silva director del Orfeon de
Santiago y que ha vivido en Haiti sabe expresarse en kreol y me dio una
perspectiva diferente de la vida cubana. Entre otros, he podido conocer a
Eliades Ochoa y Alberto Lescay. Silva y Lescay me aseguraron que mis
visitas a La Habana siempre no me iban a dar el imagen exacto de la
realidad cubana. Para esto era necesario ir y visitar a Santiago de Cuba
en Oriente. Esto reflejaría mejor la verdad del Caribe en Cuba. Es también
la zona que es la fuente de todas las luchas libertarias en Cuba."
Interview with Eugène Godfried: Call for dialog on the 1912 Massacre
10/5/2007 AfroCubaWeb: "I was in Granada, invited by Prime Minister
Maurice Bishop, with a small delegation from Curacao, and while I was
there, a ship, the XX Aniversario, came in from Carifesta in Barbados and
docked at St Georges, the capital. On board there were over 200 artists,
and they performed for the Cuban workers building the airport and also for
the Grenada public. During those days, I was also in contact with the
Cuban embassy through its political secretary Gaston Diaz and Ambassador
Rizo. They included me in all the programming and introduced me to the
artists, including Pedro Izquierdo - "Pello el Afrokan" - who became a
good friend. These artists emphasized the Caribbean, the African component
of Cuban culture. All of them hinted to me about 1912 but no one went in
depth into it. First I had to understand the general situation of Africans
in Cuba. Eduardo Rivero Walker spoke about the English-speaking immigrants
in Cuba. Electo Silva, director of Orfeon, spoke Creole, had lived in
Haiti, and gave me a different perspective on Cuban life. I also got to
know Eliades Ochoa and Alberto Lescay, among others. Silva and Lescay told
me that because I was going to Havana, I was not getting the real picture
of what Cuba was like. They told me I needed to go to Oriente, the most
Caribbean tinted area in Cuba and the source of all its liberation
movements."
Pedro Agustin Pérez 5/30/2005 AfroCubaWeb: "Pedro
A. Pérez is renowned in Oriente as a Mambi general and resistance fighter.
Even today La Seccion Provincial de Cultura de Guantánamo, which is under
the Ministry of Culture, promotes him as the Father of Guantánamo
Province. However, he was in fact a vile racist from a family of bounty
hunters who tracked down escaped slaves. As mayor of Guantánamo during the
1912 Massacre, Pérez was himself directly responsible for ordering the
liquidation of 50 AfroCubans (mostly Haitians) in one night, which is
something people in Guantánamo have not forgotten. He also sanctioned
numerous other murders in the troubled days of 1912."
Rogelio Scull: founding member of Afrocuba de Matanzas dies in Texas jail
after kangaroo court gives him life 6/1/2004 AfroCubaWeb: "Rogelio
Scull was a talented percussionist who was among the founding members of
Afrocuba de Matanzas, along with Francisco Zamora, Dolores Perez, Pedro
"Pello" Tapanes, Regino, and the other greats of that group. He is
remembered fondly by the members of the group. He died on Saturday, June
12, 2004. Rogelio left Cuba in the 1980 Mariel event and played for some
time in NY. He spent over 10 years in jail on a life sentence for being an
accessory to a murder. I obtained a copy of the court transcript and was
not too surprised to see that the case against Scull was unsupported by
physical evidence and relied only on the testimony of one Ana, who
fingered him as a participant after being squeezed by the cops on a bad
check charge. It turns out from the transcript itself that Ana was the
wife of the murderer and there were high heel marks at the site where the
body was found. Ana has since been jailed for her participation in 3 other
murders. Hardly a reliable witness."
What
was Al Sharpton doing in Cuba? 12/1/2000 AfroCubaWeb: "What was the
Reverend Al doing in Cuba? As is clear from his recent forays, he is
trying to build up a national reputation. The news about the hip-hop
ventures may also be seen as an effort to restore credibility on the
streets and on the left. The Reverend Al appears to have gained ground in
erasing his earlier career as an FBI informant, by having lunch with Fidel
Castro and organizing a large hip-hop exchange with InterScope records,
among others. However, the road has sometimes been rocky: folks in Detroit
prevented him from achieving much there by posting these Newsday articles
below from 1988. Basically they outline how he was an FBI informant and
tried to set up Assata Shakur for capture."
The CANF: a financial portrait 4/15/2000 AfroCubaWeb: "The CANF has a
board of directors with about 60 members, each of whom gives over $10,000
a year. A separate board of trustees numbers 60. Each of them gives over
$5,000 a year. The total number of contributors is 50,000. In addition,
the Jorge Mas Canosa Freedom Foundation, which is funded by Mas Canosa's
estate, matches each dollar contributed to the CANF with two dollars of
its own. The administrative budget is around $1.5 million a year with
separate funds raised for each activity."
Operation Northwoods, Joint Chiefs of Staff, USA 4/15/2000
AfroCubaWeb: "Operation Northwoods was a plan by the highest US military
authorities to create a series of incidents involving loss of American and
Cuban exile lives through the actions of phony Cubans in order to persuade
the US public to go to war against Cuba. The document detailing this plan
were obtained from Defense Seceretary McNamara's files and were first
published in Australia by Jon Elliston (Psy War on Cuba: The Declassified
History of US Anti-Castro Propaganda, Ocean Press, 1999) with no reaction
at all from the US. They were used again by ABC News journalist James
Bamford in his history of the NSA (Body of Secrets, Doubleday, 2001),
causing some minor notice among historians."What was
Al Sharpton doing in Cuba?, 12/1/00 AfroCubaWeb: "The news about the
hip-hop ventures may also be seen as an effort to restore credibility on
the streets and on the left. The Reverend Al appears to have gained ground
in erasing his earlier career as an FBI informant, having lunch with Fidel
Castro and organizing a large hip-hop exchange with InterScope records,
among others. However, the road has sometimes been rocky: folks in Detroit
prevented him from achieving much there by posting these Newsday articles
below from 1988. Basically they outline how he was an FBI informant and
tried to set up Assata Shakur for capture."
Black Caucus Delegation visits Cuba, meets with Castro, Robaina
2/20/1999 AfroCubaWeb
Transafrica delegation goes to Cuba, seeks ties with AfroCubans, and meets
with Castro 1/8/1999 AfroCubaWeb: "Randall Robinson, the TransAfrica's
president, said "American policies, 40 years in application, have hurt
ordinary men, woman, and children in Cuba, and AfroCubans particularly,
and it's simply unacceptable." He thinks that the trade ban will end soon
and that once it has, Cubans will need help adjusting to new realities.
For example, he worries that as capitalism enters the Cuban economy,
AfroCubans won't get their fair share of opportunities: "Already there is
discrimination in the selection of people for some jobs, but I don't think
there's any question that the Cuban government opposes practices of this
kind."
Republican Bob Franks (NJ) sponsors bill on Assata 5/1/1998
AfroCubaWeb
Poem
to Assata in Exile by Comrade Askia M. Touré 4/27/1998 AfroCubaWeb
Luis Calle
Garcia 12/1/1997 AfroCubaWeb: "The Guaguanco, one of the principal
forms of rumba, was invented within this family. Folklorists have known of
a relationship between Efik/Efo dances and rumba, but this is a very
direct indication of such a relationship.
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