Secret Cuba part 1 magazine IIlegal Cuban Cock Fighting Santaria & Sacrifice Rations Street Life Secret Cuba by Damian Bird Santeria is the most practiced religion in Cuba and within it rum and cigars are used rather in the same way as bread and wine are used within Christianity, as sacrements. Cigar smoke can be seen here being blown over objects to bless them and make them fit for use within the Santeria sacrifice of a goat that is just about to take place. Rum is sprayed out of the mouth in a fine mist over objects to achieve a similar cleansing effect. After attending several Santaria services I realised that to get very drunk indeed during the proceedings whilst chain smoking big fat cigars is all part of the fun. Cubans’ can only earn about $20 per month under the thumb of Castro’s governement, so fun is had through whatever means possible. This is preparation for the sacrifice of a goat to the Santeria God: a type of alter. The blessing of the knife to be used to sacrifice the goat. The goat is being prepared here for sacrifice. The animal was never mistreated and treated kindly during the entire process. The cut to its throat that led to its death was expertly executed and the animal did not suffer. Here, a Santeria blessing is taking place. All the children of this Havana slum received a chalk cross on the forehead to anoint them. Cuban cigars have a well deserved reputation. I asked my hosts what would happen if they had to live on their official rations. The answer came back: “You would starve to death”. This is an official ration book. Another man told me that Castro has only ever achieved three things with his repressive regime. “Castro has turned his own peolpe into liars theives and prostitutes, because if you were not one or all of these things you would starve to death in the gutter trying to live within the rules!” The official shops in Havana have virtually nothing to sell. They ration out what little they have as if in George Orwell’s novel, 1984. “Everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others”. Under Castro’s regime there is  no incentive to get on in life and work hard for a better future. There is no better futre to be had. Every day holds no opportunities just like yesterday and tomorrow. Tourism brings the “green gold” (strong foreign currencies, like the US dollar) into Cuba  and tourist furniture such as this well restored car are very important to exotic touristic dreams about Cuba. If you can’t afford a real bike or skate board, this doesn’t mean you can’t make one out of rubbish. Cuban sprit allows people without money to have what they desire. Green Taxis. These hard working drivers eat to fuel up! This is an underground and illegal cock fighting meet, however there were off-duty governement officials at the venue. Pay offs and bribes are all part of the machinery of Cuba’s well oiled underground scene. It was said to me by a Cuban during my stay that: “everything in Cuba is illegal and forbidden, but we do everything......... secretly”. Dance, salsa, music are all free to Cubans and as important to them as food. The beautiful city of Havana. A fighting dog. A good dog can make its owner some good extra money to supliment the $20 monthly wage. Pleasure is a cuban cigar. Baseball is very important to Cuban culture and a boy becomes more of a man when holding a baseball bat. Razor-sharp spurs are attached to the cocks’ ankles.  This produces are more lethal fight. I was pretty much unaware of world attitudes towards Cuba when I visited, and was expecting to find some kind of Utopian dream world with Castro as a much loved leader. My guide in Havana was a Cuban national who had lived in the UK for eight years after marrying a British tourist and having a child with her. He returned to Cuba a few years later, unsatisfied with the British attitude towards sex. I think he slept with a different girl for every day of my ten day stay. He certainly embraced life. I lived in the slums of Havana and interviewed all the Cubans I was introduced to. They spoke of the ‘Cuban propaganda machine’ and how Castro seeks to influence ideas surrounding what its really like for Cubans living under his regime. (article continued, end of part 2)