LavenderRed_Cubabook

‘I am absolutely opposed to any form of repression,
contempt, scorn or discrimination with regard to
homosexuals. It is a natural tendency and human
that must simply be respected.'
— Fidel Castro, 1992
The whole island was hard at work building an independent existence, in economic
soil deeply furrowed by the plows of colonialism and imperialism.
Fidel shut down the UMAP
Fidel Castro stated categorically about the UMAP, “I can tell you for sure that there
was prejudice against homosexuals.” (Ramonet)
On the island, the Cuban National Union of Artists and Writers (UNEAC) reportedly
protested treatment of homosexuals working in UMAP, prompting Fidel Castro to
check it out for himself. (Hillson)
A Cuban who worked in a UMAP, interviewed by Nicaraguan poet Ernesto Cardenal
in 1970-1971, related that Fidel slipped into a UMAP brigade one night and lay down
in one of the hammocks. The interviewee said that the UMAP guards would sometimes
cut the hammock cords with their sabers. “When one guard raised his saber he found
himself staring at Fidel; he almost dropped dead. Fidel is the man of the unexpected
visits.” (Cardenal)
A youth described as a “young Marxist revolutionary” told Cardenal that 100 young
males from the Communist Youth were sent to the UMAP to report back about how
homosexuals were treated. “It was a highly secret operation. Not even their families knew
of this plan. Afterward the boys told what had happened. And they put an end to the
UMAP.” (Hillson)
1965 UMAP brigades: What they were, what they were not 23