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Natalia Bolívar, the 'raft crisis' and the dairy miracle of Ubre Blanca

2021-09-24T06:25:40.802Z


The Cuban ethnologist and writer celebrates her 87th birthday with a gathering full of memories of a lifetime on the island


Natalia Bolívar with Fidel Castro and the then Spanish president, Adolfo Suárez, in 1978 Courtesy

On September 16, the Cuban ethnologist and writer Natalia Bolívar Aróstegui turned 87 in Havana. Owner of a very special story and humor, author of a dozen books on Afro-Cuban religions and protector of a thousand anecdotes, many of them unpublishable, on her birthday Natalia received her friends and turned the meeting in her apartment in Miramar into a lively gathering. As always, Natalia gave visitors fabulous stories of her life, including some of the armed actions and torture suffered, well, it must be remembered, Natalia was a woman of arms to take: born into a family with an aristocratic surname, she studied art until in in the fifties he joined the insurrectionary struggle and fired shots at Batista, but not in the group of Fidel Castro but in that of the Revolutionary Directorate;For years she was deputy director of the National Museum of Fine Arts, but due to her oppositional character and her opposition to the sale of funds from the institution, she was punished to clean graves in the cemetery and later to work in agriculture; she had several husbands and numerous lovers, some of whom she drove out of the house at gunpoint and even left him lame; she created the Napoleonic museum and later the Numismatic one, where she did witchcraft with her friends from the Palo Monte rule to "neutralize" a revolutionary minister who had taken her with her, and she succeeded; In 1990, when being religious was still a stigma in his country, he published “Los orishas en Cuba”, a true vademecum of Santeria that was a best seller and surprised the authorities.but due to her rebellious character and her opposition to the sale of funds from the institution, she was punished to clean graves in the cemetery and later to work in agriculture; she had several husbands and numerous lovers, some of whom she drove out of the house at gunpoint and even left him lame; she created the Napoleonic museum and later the Numismatic one, where she did witchcraft with her friends from the Palo Monte rule to "neutralize" a revolutionary minister who had taken her with her, and she succeeded; In 1990, when being religious was still a stigma in his country, he published “Los orishas en Cuba”, a true vademecum of Santeria that was a best seller and surprised the authorities.but due to her rebellious character and her opposition to the sale of funds from the institution, she was punished to clean graves in the cemetery and later to work in agriculture; she had several husbands and numerous lovers, some of whom she drove out of the house at gunpoint and even left him lame; she created the Napoleonic museum and later the Numismatic one, where she did witchcraft with her friends from the Palo Monte rule to "neutralize" a revolutionary minister who had taken her with her, and she succeeded; In 1990, when being religious was still a stigma in his country, he published “Los orishas en Cuba”, a true vademecum of Santeria that was a best seller and surprised the authorities.some of whom he threw out of the house at gunpoint and even left him lame; she created the Napoleonic museum and later the Numismatic one, where she did witchcraft with her friends from the Palo Monte rule to "neutralize" a revolutionary minister who had taken her with her, and she succeeded; In 1990, when being religious was still a stigma in his country, he published “Los orishas en Cuba”, a true vademecum of Santeria that was a best seller and surprised the authorities.some of whom he threw out of the house at gunpoint and even left him lame; she created the Napoleonic museum and later the Numismatic one, where she did witchcraft with her friends from the Palo Monte rule to "neutralize" a revolutionary minister who had taken her with her, and she succeeded; In 1990, when being religious was still a stigma in his country, he published “Los orishas en Cuba”, a true vademecum of Santeria that was a best seller and surprised the authorities.a true vademecum of Santeria that was a best seller and surprised the authorities.a true vademecum of Santeria that was a best seller and surprised the authorities.

30 years ago, at Natalia Bolívar's house, a small group of family and friends used to meet on Sundays for lunch and comment on the latest events. Cuba was in the middle of the Special Period, the blackouts were 12 hours a day and more, and those encounters were life: in addition to disconnecting from the daily miseries, one found out about unusual things and episodes, which occurred in the present or in the past. It was an immersion bath in the deep vat. One afternoon - the summer of 1994 was ending - Natalia said that she had received a visit the day before from the head of the US Interests Section in Havana, Patrick Sullivan. The raft crisis was at its peak, and although from a moment the Bill Clinton administration began to confine rafters collected from the high seas to the Guantanamo base,Hundreds of Cubans continued to jump into the Straits of Florida every day. Sullivan knew that Natalia moved in the world of babalaos, santeros and paleros, and what was more important, she knew its leaders. Before launching into the sea, many rafters went to consult their future with the Ifá priests on the Orula board. And Sullivan asked Natalia to please talk to them so that they would recommend their godchildren not to jump into the sea, because the United States would no longer give them asylum. As Natalia hesitated, then Sullivan begged her to summon the main Afro-Cuban religious leaders, who would explain it to her himself.many rafters went to consult their future with the Ifá priests on the Orula board. And Sullivan asked Natalia to please talk to them so that they would recommend their godchildren not to jump into the sea, because the United States would no longer give them asylum. As Natalia hesitated, then Sullivan begged her to summon the main Afro-Cuban religious leaders, who would explain it to her himself.many rafters went to consult their future with the Ifá priests on the Orula board. And Sullivan asked Natalia to please talk to them so that they would recommend their godchildren not to jump into the sea, because the United States would no longer give them asylum. As Natalia hesitated, then Sullivan begged her to summon the main Afro-Cuban religious leaders, who would explain it to her himself.

- "Look," Natalia replied, "I'd better not do that, because what is going to happen is that everyone is going to ask you for a visa, because most of them want to go to the United States."

In another of those after-dinner parties dressed with coffee and rum, the theme of the crazy adventures in which the revolution had been involved at the initiative of the Commander came up. The sculptor Rita Longa, Natalia's cousin and one of the most outstanding artists of her generation, recounted her experience with genetic engineering and the famous Ubre Blanca cow. The story begins in the mid-sixties, when Fidel had the idea of ​​creating a Cuban Creole herd that was a mixture of the Holstein breed with the African zebu. The objective was to obtain quality cattle that would produce a lot of milk and at the same time be able to withstand the harsh conditions of the hot Cuban climate. With this genetic policy, the Government imported stallions and cows from Canada and Holland and the first crosses were made. Thus arose the so-called F1,which was later followed by F2 (25% zebu and 75% Holstein), a story that culminated in the phenomenon of Ubre Blanca, the cow-mother-emblem of the Cuban revolution.

Fidel Castro and the Ubre Blanca cow, in an image that circulated in the Cuban press in the early eighties.

Actually, the first character in the story is the stallion Rosafé Signet, imported from Canada at the beginning of the revolution.

Rosafé was, together with Castro, one of the most famous "fathers" of this unique artificial insemination project that was to change the history of Cuban livestock, so before Fidel died he had the idea of ​​immortalizing it.

For this purpose, he contacted the sculptor Rita Longa and asked her to make a life-size sculpture of the bull while he was still alive.

At first Rita Longa did not give credit.

- "But how am I going to make a sculpture of a bull, Commander?" He exclaimed.

Rita Longa, a contemporary of the painter Wifredo Lam and the sculptor Agustín Cárdenas, had emblematic works scattered around Havana, starting with the dancer who greeted you when you arrived at the Tropicana Cabaret or the superb sculpture of the Virgen del Camino, located in Havana's Plaza del same name. Rita said that this idea seemed absurd to her, but after the initial scare and to get out of the way she explained to Fidel Castro that it was not so easy to make a life-size sculpture of a stallion. Fidel suggested that he take a plaster cast of Rosafé and then cast it in bronze. Rita explained that this was not done like that, that such a mold on a living animal was not possible, less than a bull. The Commander insisted and convinced Rita that, when the fatal outcome happened, the sculpture of that hero of the country should be made.

Rosafé was about to expire, and a commando-type operation was ordered.

Rita had to be contactable 24 hours a day to be notified when the stallion breathed his last, at which point he would move to the farm to work there hot.

This was done.

After three or four days, one afternoon they warned him.

He had to go urgently to the stables.

"But if it was impossible to make a mold on a live bull, imagine on a dead bull," joked Rita that afternoon at Natalia's house.

Natalia Bolívar (left) and Rita Longa in front of the statue of the Virgen Camino, in an undated image Courtesy

Faced with the difficulty of making a faithful reproduction of Rosafé Signét and to please the Commander, Rita decided to go to the dairy to take notes and study the psychology of the stallions in their environment, and thus get as close as possible to what Castro had asked of her. . When the sculpture was finally going to start to melt into bronze, the technician with whom Rita had always worked left for Miami and left her on board. Rita then contacted the only man who, according to her, could do the job well. Nodarse worked at the Higher Institute of Art and decided to help him out. It was 1968, and bad luck meant that just when he was working on the sculpture of the stallion - it was going to melt in parts - Fidel decreed the Revolutionary Offensive and expropriated more than 50.000 private businesses that were still operating on the island, including Nodarse's workshop, so Rosafé was left without a statue.

The animal was buried at the Research Center for Animal Improvement of Tropical Livestock (CIGMAT), a typical Caribbean-socialist name, and Fidel Castro attended his funeral accompanied by the then president of the country, Osvaldo Dorticós. A farewell at the height of a Hero of the Nation. Still in 1994 Rita kept in her studio the only three parts of that work that came together: the head, the trunk and the private parts of the animal… -Rita, very fine, in order not to pronounce the word she put her hands in the shape of a bowl and he pretended to hold something very heavy in them. Finally, in the 21st century, a Canadian lawyer paid $ 100,000 to make the bull sculpture, which today can be seen at the entrance to the Rancho Boyeros fairgrounds.

The 'Genetic Policy' of the Cuban revolution continued to develop.

The crosses continued and around 1972, Ubre Blanca was born, Rosafé's granddaughter and daughter of the Cuban stallion Naranjos Seiling Jupiter.

The Ubre Blanca cow, a beautiful F2, broke all records: in 1981 it produced 110 liters in a single day, entering the Guinness and becoming a symbol of the livestock development policy promoted by Castro.

Granma

,

Bohemia

and all the revolutionary publications of the time devoted hundreds of pages to it, and on August 7 of that year Fidel convened a large seminar with scientists, veterinarians, and the staff of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party, with a whole number of the newspaper covering the news. officer of the Cuban communists. The newspaper included on page 3 a close-up of Ubre Blanca's teat, with the following caption: “a well-planted udder and thick mammary veins are some of the features that characterize this exceptional cow, daughter of a Cuban bull. , which registered unprecedented volumes in world milk production ”. Granma explained with precision the genetic path to reach Tropical Holstein: the Siboney de Cuba (5/8 of Holstein and 3/8 of Zebu),the Taino de Cuba (5/8 of Holstein and 3/8 Creole) and so on until reaching the F2, destined to produce more milk than Holland and more cheese than France, according to the Commander's forecasts. The following year, on November 30, 1982, the cow became a mother and Granma featured prominently on the front page: “LAST HOUR: GIVEN UBRE BLANCA”.

Ubre was in a dairy on the Isle of Youth and had comfortable conditions, including a stable with air conditioning and indirect music, as the Cuban scientists concluded that Mozart benefited him. He regularly received visits from Castro accompanied by foreign personalities, like that year 1982, when he visited Ubre Blanca Alí Naser Mohamed, President of Yemen. At the "meeting" - as defined by Bohemia magazine - the musical group Los Gracias premiered a song dedicated to the cow. For the Cuban press, Ubre Blanca became "the confirmation of a successful policy of genetic development" inspired by Fidel, and in these again the Commander became interested in making a statue of this mother of Cuban cattle ranching and contacted Rita. He asked him to make a life-size sculpture of White Udder, in marble.Rita Longa presided over the Council for the development of Monumental and Environmental Sculpture at that time, and although she ruled out carrying out the work herself, she commissioned two sculptors from the Isle of Youth, Abelardo Hechevarría and Luis Ruz.

"Undertaking the work was not easy," explained Bohemia. The sculpture maintained "absolute fidelity" to the "anatomical characteristics" of the animal and, according to the magazine, the monument was made "in white, compact, fine-grained marble, practically without veins, very similar to that used in their statues by the great Italian artists ”. The sculpture was finally finished, and someone decided to place it in the future Plaza de la Revolucion de la Isla de la Juventud. "I shouted to heaven," Rita recalled. "A monument to a cow in a square of the Revolution, yes that no," he protested. Thanks to this, the marble that honors Ubre Blanca today adorns the dairy where the animal lived and died, in the district of La Victoria, on the Isle of Youth. After Ubre Blanca died, no more cow gave a similar amount of liters of milk.On the contrary, the Cuban cattle ranch was languishing until it reached the situation of today, in which the island imports thousands of tons of milk annually to satisfy the minimum needs of the population in fits and starts.

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2021-09-24

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