CAMAGÜEY.- Hortencia Santos Caballero cannot get up early by the rooster; rather, the smell of their coffee wakes up the bully in the henhouse. This woman, like most of the rural women, drops the warm sheets before the rest of the family to prepare breakfast for the others, feed the birds, and soften the beans. It is only the beginning of a long and hard task that does not end until after ten at night.
If it wasn't for the fact that Hortencia is called Hortencia, we could call her Francisca, like the one in the story Francisca y la muerte, by Onelio Jorge Cardoso. She, tireless as the protagonist of the famous story, has already reached six decades of life, shows silver hair and a look with a lot of verve - the same with which the community of El Guayabo (Jimaguayú) and the lands of the cooperative of credits and services (CCS) Evelio Rodríguez.
Even the dogs know this guajira, and it is not for less. In addition to being the founder of the community, she has been the secretary of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) of block No. 29 Tania la Guerrillera; also a cultural promoter of the town; responsible for the FMC-ANAP (Small Farmers Association) brigade in its CCS and attends to the children of the primary school in the Life Task circle of interest, which houses the La Victoria farm-school.
Among her great pride is having the possibility of giving voice to peasant women in the National Committee of the FMC from 2014 to 2019, and at present she assumes this task in the Provincial Committee of the women's organization. For so much dedication, she was recently awarded the FMC 60th Anniversary seal.
The work of that structure is not easy in any setting - you know it well - but in the mountains everything is complicated; the distances are very long and the lags of machismo persist that put a brake, in the 21st century, to the personal fulfillment of women. That is why she gives so much value to the operation of the FMC-ANAP brigades, a way to sensitize the family on issues of equity, to get the peasant women out of the house from the vicious circle of daily household chores, and to demonstrate that in addition to attending to the Animals and loved ones can take time to create and make beautiful things.
“Although the men in charge of the farms are still the majority, every time we are more. I see how our thinking has changed. Many have already stopped saying "I can't," and in that the Federation has its honors. The hairdressing, sewing and embroidery courses that we offer have helped not a few to have financial independence. There is still a lot to do, there are men who believe that they cannot live without them or that they are the owners of their wives. We are also to help those who have not been able to remove the yoke of abuse. In the field, the FMC has its important place.
“We have the longest days. In the field of the double day we have made almost nothing. Much responsibility still weighs on the female shoulders, the house, the elderly, the children, in addition to agricultural work. Life for the peasant is very sacrificed, and it is exacerbated by difficulties in acquiring basic necessities, such as cleaning, problems with transportation to take children to schools, or to go to fix our hair or nails. We Cubans are all heroines, each one from her front, let no one doubt it ”.
She has very little free time. In those moments that she dedicates, she prefers to be with the beautiful family that she created with her husband Edelmis, make crafts and immerse herself in the world of social networks. This Hortencia —which could be called Francisca— also ensures that there is no time for after-dinner meals because "there is always something to do."
- Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez