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La
Compañía /
The
Company
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By
Lillia Bustaman
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Liborio
represents the true rural Cuban, dressed with
a hat, a white linen guayabera, red handkerchief
around his neck and a machete to his belt.
Larousse dictionary describes it as "generic
name of the Cuban man", which extends
to the Cuban people. Liborio is always ready
to remove his machete from the vaina to fight
those that are not honorable in politics at
the expense of the poor 'guajiro' Cuban, as
he says with grace.
Liborio
is part of our folklore, someone that represents
Cuba everywhere he goes, Liborio was always
at carnivals, parties and in parades; not
only in Cuba before Castro, but everywhere
in exile. Today, four decades later, this
personage still is a symbol of the Cuban people
that has NOT changed.
The only thing that might have changed is
his clothing. He is still the same down to
earth man, with his hat, his boots, but he
has lost his guayabera. Now you see him with
just a shirt, some old and torn pants, walking
barefoot.
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Cortesy ofEstampas Folclóricas Cubana
Liborio, José Chiu
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He
does not carry his machete to the belt any longer,
he now carries a chain to his feet, and one he drags
with heavy ball of iron, just like the ones imposed
on the Apostle when he was imprisoned when he was
only 17.
Ironic but true, after one century has passed, we
are like Marti, at the point of departure. So much
for the 20th century. Let's hope that in the 21st
century our personage can come back to what it was,
and that his absence is only temporary.
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