From the stage of the IV Patria Colloquium held at the University of Havana, Lis Cuesta Peraza, national director of events at the Ministry of Culture and wife of Cuban ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel, shared a personal perspective on the challenges and contradictions faced by today's Cuban women.
In an extensive testimony collected by the official outlet Alma Plus TV, Cuesta addressed topics such as machismo, the role of the family, women's professional development, and identity within the institutional apparatus of the Cuban state.
"Being a woman and leading, while managing the family, remains a challenge", stated Cuesta, who acknowledged that despite six decades of public policies "in defense of women", such as those promoted by the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC), Cuban women still face significant obstacles.
"Even when we are accompanied by men who are not misogynistic, who fight for the advancement of women, we still carry the greatest concern for the family," she emphasized.
One of the most revealing parts of the interview was when Cuesta reminisced about his childhood and the figure of his father, a retired military man, whom he described as "machista" in the family context.
"One day I learned on television that my father was not a misogynist. They were praising him. I was taken aback because at home he was. However, it didn’t hold me back. Or maybe if he tried, he didn’t succeed," she recounted.
The anecdote, told in a personal tone, revealed a latent tension: the existence of structural machismo in key institutions of the Cuban system such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces, which is reproduced within the home and limits women's trajectories.
Knowing where it says "danger," Cuesta Peraza quickly stepped out to defend the achievements of the FMC as a platform for female empowerment in the so-called revolution. "Today we still have battles to win, and they are not few, but we are managing them well," she assured.
Cuesta Peraza expressed pride in her trajectory within the institutional system, from her beginnings as a teacher in Holguín to her current role as an organizer of festivals, such as the failed San Remo, and gastronomic events advised by her personal chef.
Since her birth in Sancti Spíritus, her upbringing in Holguín, and her arrival in Havana, where she brought her mother and family (though she didn’t mention this in the interview), the interviewee made every effort to portray herself as a simple and approachable woman.
Despite the official tone of his statements, he openly acknowledged the limitations of gender equity in Cuba, where the ideal of equality is not always reflected in practice.
"It benefits us to resist and advance", said Cuesta Peraza at the end of the thematic block on the role of women, demonstrating his loyalty to the thoughts of Díaz-Canel, author of the decalog of "creative resistance" and "we advance and it hurts them."
In times when independent feminism in Cuba is persecuted and criminalized, and critical spaces are minimal, the words of Cuesta Peraza reflect the approach of official feminism: assertive in discourse, but functional to power. A discourse that does not challenge the structure that perpetuates inequalities, but rather appeals to overcoming them through institutional obedience and ideological loyalty.
"It's good for us to resist and move forward", said a woman showcasing her Cartier watches and other , but her heart turns to “scrub mode” with the blackouts that Cuban women endure, forcing thousands of them to cook with firewood their meager daily rations.
"It's good for us to resist and move forward", said a woman who does not experience blackouts, transportation issues, or lack of medication, who has private medical centers for herself and her family, and who hasn't set foot in a store since she started wearing Christian Louboutin shoes.
"It's good for us to resist and move forward", said a woman who laughs at the suffering of Cubans calling her husband "dictator of my heart" and appointing her little son Manuel Anido Cuesta as his personal advisor, a dandy with no job or other benefits, ending up living like a millionaire in Spain, hand in hand with the star of La Colmenita, Ana de Armas, another "empowered federation member" who admires the regime's men.
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