Las reinas de la noche in Havana

Those are the jineteras.
And jineteros for what matters.

And I just finished reading the most heartbreaking story about their daily lives in the worker's paradise. I'm talking about the book Jineteras, by Cuban writer Amir Valle.

I can't tell you enough times how heartbreaking some of the testimonies are. I can't tell you enough times what a such a piece hypocrite the communist dictatorship has been for half a century, trying to deny this fact of the Cuban society.

I did have to skip some parts, though.
I just couldn't stand the narrative of the chronological history of prostitution in Cuba, going as far back as the time of the taínos. They couldn't hook me up.

In general, I liked the book because through his interviews, Valle shows to the world some of the hidden truths of communist's Cuba.
Yeah, the perfect world, my a...

I would never dare to judge the people who had the courage to talk about them the way they did for the book. Since a very young age, I've decided I'm nobody to judge anybody else's actions; God knows what made them chose that path.
That's what I had in mind when I started reading.

However, the book also left me with some bitter taste and thoughts of an undecided author.
Let me explain you why.

I do not expect that all books about Cuba ought to be a rant against Castro in the most extremist terms. Actually, the mastery of an author is demonstrated when he can do so in a subtle style, IMHO.

But with Jineteras, several times I felt that, even when Valle was critizicing the system by exposing its dirty laundry, I perceived him as trying to apologize for doing so.

It might sound speculative, but it was like if he had some interest in Cuba that could be damaged if he dared to take a different position.

I felt, in some parts of the book, as if it was a sugar-coated exposé.

And, even when extremism is not a good position in life because in this world not everything is black and white, there are some instances when you have to be straight forward, y tirar con todos los cañones.

The issue calls for that kind of artillery.
And that power of fire is missing in key parts of this book.

But I am not disheartened. One more book down.
I keep on going in my own Cuba's re-education program.

FYI, I'm also reading "Unvanquished, Cuba's resistance to Fidel Castro", by Enrique Encinosa. And I've started a list. A list of the things I am discovering about the real story of the so called revolution.