As evening falls, as the Caribbean heat subsides, the streets of Havana’s neighborhoods fill with people spending the last hours of the day with their neighbors. There are gaming tables set up and it is common to see people playing dominoes the national game par excellence or chess late into the night. While the doors of houses are left open to allow air to enter and cool the interior.
There are few capital cities where people still maintain such a close relationship with the street. In addition, there are few cities where anyone walking down the street can see doors and windows open late at night.
In one of these neighborhoods, just a few meters from the Almendares River, Silvia Natacha Almanza and her neighbors from the community of Fanguito decorate the block with garlands and flags while preparing a caldosa a type of traditional soup that is cooked for hours. The neighborhood celebrates. The population is celebrating the anniversary of the founding of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), a territorial organization spread across the island that brings together residents of each neighborhood to carry out various social activities.
El Fanguito is a popular neighborhood in Havana. The first buildings were improvised on the riverbank from sheet metal and wood, mostly by people traveling from the interior to the capital in search of job opportunities. The name comes from the river floods that inundated houses and streets with mud (fango in Spanish). A popular neighborhood that was considered “marginal” for a long time.
Currently, Silvia Natacha Almanza, or “Naty” as her neighbors call her, is the head of her CDR. This is a voluntary position that is elected by the residents of the neighborhood in a meeting.
“We take care of what belongs to us and what belongs to all of us,” says Naty actually to Brazil. “We take care of what you have in your house because it took us a lot of effort to get it, but also what is in the bodega, where the food is that we all buy, in the schools , in which all children learn, in the neighbor’s house, because we believe that your neighbor is also like your brother. And among all of us, we voluntarily allow no crime or violence to occur.”
With the bodega mentioned by Naty, Cubans refer to a state warehouse in which a monthly basket of basic foodstuffs heavily subsidized is distributed to individuals or families. A basic food basket guaranteed by the state and part of the island’s socialist model.
The care you speak of is not just metaphorical. Through the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), neighbors in each neighborhood undertake different types of social work: from caring for elderly or sick people in need of assistance to carrying out surveillance and security tasks in the neighborhood.
“On a rotating and voluntary basis, we take on the role of guards who monitor the neighborhood at night and alert the police if something happens, from an accident to a crime,” explains Naty. “The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution are one big family. We are a group of people organized by neighborhood who support the country. And the cedar bearers spontaneously take initiatives and make suggestions to solve problems.”
“Cuba is a peaceful country. We have our problems like everyone else. But it is a country without violence. We are also organized and we do it with love, out of love for others: our neighbors, our relatives, our friends, our colleagues. We help and care for each other. We don’t allow anyone to come into the neighborhood to disturb this peace,” she says.
The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution
Cuba stands in stark contrast to a region and continent with high levels of violence. Despite being a country of great hardship and economic hardship, the island has managed to keep the level of violence at a low level. There are no areas taken over by drug traffickers or criminal gangs, and violent crime involving the use of weapons is very rare.
But that wasn’t always the case. Before the victory of the revolution in 1959, the Caribbean country was not only one of the most violent countries in the region, but also began to be controlled by several mafias.
“In the 1940s and 1950s, it was common for various political factions to be linked to illegal businesses and to lead parapolice groups that guaranteed these activities,” said historian Frank Josué Soler actually to Brazil. “At that time there were even frequent clashes between these parapolice groups in the center of Havana who wanted to secure illegal transactions. In this context, the assassination of social leaders was a relatively common practice. “Before the revolution, Cuba was a country of corruption and violence.”
When the revolution managed to overthrow the Batista dictatorship, it had to face both criminal groups that controlled entire territories and counterrevolutionary groups that began carrying out sabotage and terrorist attacks. USmade aircraft were used to bomb sugar plantations Cuba’s most important economic sector at the time. On October 21 of the same year, a machine gun from a small plane flying over Havana opened fire on the population. These attacks continued unabated in the following years.
On September 28, 1960, a crowd gathered in front of the former presidential palace, where the Revolution Museum is now located. From the balcony of the palace, Fidel Castro, just 34 years old, was addressing the people who had gathered to hear about his recent trip to the United Nations when, in the middle of his speech, the first explosions were heard. It was in the heat of that night, in the middle of his inflammatory speech, that Fidel called on the people to defend their revolution by creating security militias.
The right to care for others
“The idea of the CDR came at a time when we had to take care of the people, the people and the revolution,” said Eusebio Vázquez Medina actually to Brazil. “For the people are the revolution and the revolution is the people. It was Fidel who said that the people must take care of their revolution. And we are the people.”
Medina lives with his family in Fanguito. His eyes fill with pride as he tells us that this is his first time donating. Despite his advanced age, Eusebio and his wife Dalia Izada Cabane do not lose their enthusiasm and continue to volunteer in surveillance and security tasks in the neighborhood.
“It is very important that women and men pay equal attention because it is very important that we are equal,” adds Dalia Izada Cabane. “Because we all have the right to care about the revolution. We all have the right to care for each other. Because we belong to this revolution, to Fidel’s revolution.”
“Now there are no more things that used to happen when we had to be vigilant because bombs were being planted. All of that has changed over time. Now we do charitable work, like cleaning the neighborhood or the party we organize for the children to play,” he adds with a smile.
Security with a community approach
Cuba is one of the countries that invests the most in health, education and access to culture. More than 12% of gross domestic product (GDP) is spent on access to education, which is twice the investment in most countries in the region. This is one of the keys that has made Cuba a country with low levels of violence today.
However, the island has been forced to endure a blockade that has stifled its economy for more than six decades. According to a report prepared for the UN in 2022, the blockade has cost Cuba a total of $148 billion over the past 60 years. Year after year, from 1992 to the present, the vast majority of UN member states have condemned the United States’ blockade of Cuba, viewing this practice as external interference in violation of international law.
“Cuba is often accused of being a dictatorship. I don’t understand what they are talking about, dictatorship is what Pinochet did. Here you will not see a police officer killing someone, as happens in many places today,” says Iris Mercedes Sanchez, for Brazil actually.
Sanchez lives with his mother an older woman with health problems in a corridor in Fanguito. The necessary concern for her mother’s health sometimes makes it impossible for her to devote herself to the voluntary work of the CDR. Obtaining the medication your mother needs is often a difficult task. The sanctions imposed on the country make it difficult for Cuba to import what it needs. Companies prefer not to sell to Cuba for fear of economic sanctions, and the same goes for suppliers who bring imports to the island. Ships calling at Cuban ports will not be able to travel to the United States for several months.
“This is our house and we organize ourselves. As Toni said in her songs: There are changes that my house needs, but I make the changes in my house. Nobody from outside has to come and do it. And yes: us.” We want many things to change and improve. But we want to make the changes ourselves. We don’t want someone from outside to come and organize our house.”
Editing: Leandro Melito
