Las Tunas, Cuba.– This family comes from Gibara, in Holguín; since the 50s of the last century a branch of such a legitimate family moved to Las Tunas looking for working places.Those were the times in which the glassmaker husband went into business with a local villager and saw a future of more happiness in these lands.
They still talk about Gibara with yearning, the place of the heart to which they always return to embrace their relatives and rediscover the strength of the sea. Of course, they also love Las Tunas, the land where their children have grown as well as the dreams of a complete life. And for all that together, and more, they will be saying Yes in the constitutional referendum on February 24th.
Floralis Sánchez tells us this from the living room of her large house in Las Tunas, with the sincerity of his 88 years and the conviction of being "communist until I die" because it is a certainty that accompanies her as a cradle and formation. As she says that, her eyes shine.
Floralis told us about her aunt esperanza, one of the two women who signed the Constitution of 1940
Maybe because she remembers her childhood days, the father that is buried in the pantheon of the martyrs of Gibara, and the times when he was imprisoned as a communist, when the "title of being communist" could cost his life.
She also remembers those days in which she went from her home in the Maceo Street of the beautiful Villa Blanca of Cuba to the most incredible places to arrange people. Well hidden, with some suspicion, because she knew that it meant a call for a meeting and she could not tell anyone. And then, between games, she heard some words when while walking by the garden that were left somewhere in her head: abuses, rights, Cuba, freedom...
Or perhaps her eyes shine so bright because one of her dearest names came to mind: her aunt Esperanza Sánchez. A good woman, primped as few, who died in Havana, already old, and left even the money of her own funeral. Humble and sincere, as she always was.
Many people in her hometown knew her as "the doctor" because she was a doctor in pharmacy. Then Floralis raises her eyes, curdles her smile and says:
Signatories of the Cuban Constitution of 1940. The name of
Esperanza Sánchez is highlighted in blue"My aunt was one of the two women who signed the Constitution of 1940, as a representative of the Communist Revolutionary Union Party that had six delegates in that Constituent Assembly. We are a family that has always lived with that pride. The house of Gibara was the center of many activities.
"Comrades from Fray Benito, Potrerillo, SantaLucía and from other nearby places came to meet her and listen to her points of view. I remember that even the aunt moved a lot around the Cuban east with such missions; here in the town of Delicias (Puerto Padre), and in other distant and sometimes dangerous areas.
"I especially remember her close friendship with Jesús Menéndez, the sugar workers' leader, of whom she always spoke to us with affection. She kept with zeal in the house the proclamations, because we had a printing press that worked there, as well as the most important documents. From time to time we had some frights by all that, and we received the occasional visit of men like Juan Marinello, Blas Roca and César Vilar, who came to talk with "the doctor" about their matters."
Then Floralis begins to speak softly and sadness arrives. She tells when Esperanza, on one of those trips, fell in love and how that passion was more important than anything else. And then, education, life, love ... She left everything behind; and Floralis believes that history has been a bit unfair in measuring that woman's legacy. But suddenly the voice gains strength and retakes its energy.
"When she talked with us, she told us that we had to take care of this, always defend it, no matter the price, or the personal sacrifice. She taught us to be communists.We have fulfilled it and we will continue doing it ".
"We are a big family; we have doctors, engineers, architects and workers of other branches. We have lived the birth, until now, of two constitutions (the one of 1940 and the other one of 1976). I assure you that we studied this one, we gave our criteria and we will say Yes on February 24th. Nobody doubts that. "
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