Communist Butterflies

Well last week was a nice combination of things. I actually woke up one morning feeling the same kind of stressed I do some days at home, trying to figure out how I was going to finish my Spanish homework, finish decorations for a party, find a friend coming to town, and buy a cake. However, that is the kind of pressure I do very well under so I enjoyed it.

On the day I am describing, our group was throwing a “Bat Mitzvah” for our program coordinator and the Ludwig foundation. Yes, my roommate and I had decided to have this party when we heard about Marguerite’s first Bat Mitzvah (which I think is one of the most amazing stories I have ever heard) which was a ‘disaster.’ It became a running joke that my roommate’s mom would throw Marguerite a good New Jersey Bat Mitzvah when we got back so she could really become a women. Anyway, it became quite a task for us to plan the party, complete with stand in parents and rabbi. It was also communist butterfly themed, with butterflies with Che hats drawn on Granma (the national newspaper) as paper is hard to find. Her torah portion may have also been from the communist manifesto. I was the ‘photographer’ as we all had parts to play and could not stop laughing/crying (in the style of April Le) during the surprise ceremony. And it was really not disrespectful as it may sound here to Jewish tradition. Anyway, as the first party carried out by the students it was a great success. However, Tuesday afternoon was the only time everyone was free and it had to be sandwiched after Spanish class for most people and a meeting with a representative, Milagros, from the University.

Milagros is a bit hard to describe here, but definitely a distinct personality and style. After our brief meeting with her, Rafael Hernandez came to talk to us. Both groups met him last semester on a book tour in the US, but he is a highly respected Cuban intellectual. The discussion moved over a variety of topics, but most importantly we moved into a discussion about the provision for a leader in the Cuban constitution. Truthfully since about the first week, this is the first time the future of leadership in the country has really come into discussion. Before everyone in the group left, I think the general consensus is most people only asked us about what will happen in terms of Fidel. Living here, this is not what we think about at every moment. Also, what journalists and most people fail to talk about is how the constitution is set up to deal with a change in power and even policies. The Vice President assumes the role of the President in terms of a change, and Raul has been the Vice President since Fidel has been President. So while they are brothers, Raul becoming President is legally legitimate. At this point the leader of the National Assembly becomes the Vice President.

While, we discusses this with Rafael it also coincided with the day I had to discuss Cuban elections in my Spanish class. Rafael also explained while the Constitution is in place the way in which the law are interpreted, as you can imagine, is highly determined by who is in power. I find all of this extremely important and interesting, so I don’t mind sharing it a little here.

Later in the week I met up with Chilo, who some of you have met and others know about. I call her my Mexican mother, because the summer I spent in Mexico when I was 16 I set up through her. She has also been on my mom’s organizations board of directors for 13 years. I took her to the famous Coopelia ice cream parks with one of my friends from UNC after we met her at the Capitolio. (Yes the Capitol building here, not in use in the same way after the Revolution, is based off of the US Capitol) We also had her over for dinner at our residence and I asked her to pretend she didn’t speak and Spanish so we could throw everyone off in the middle of dinner. As it turned out everyone was very happy to talk to her, because her Spanish is much easier to understand than Cubans and she is much more used to speaking to non-Spanish speakers. I had a great time with her in town, because at this point she really is like a family member with all we have been through. It also makes me think about how interconnected the world really is.