CAMAGÜEY.- Driving a North Benz truck loaded with 60 tons of sugar cane and two trailers is no easy task for anyone. The simplest maneuver demands precision, especially since that mass of iron does not stop so easily; however, the most experienced say that she does it very well.

It was her dream since she was a child; and despite misunderstandings and machismo, she succeeded. “I spend time with my grandson, my daughter, the animals; I embroider, I sew; but driving is better than anything, the bigger the car, the better. Note that this truck is also longer than usual and I feel comfortable in it ”.

Thus Reyna Labrada Reyes, the only driver from the Tranzmec base who, with 24 trucks, assumes the mission of supplying cane to the central Panama, in Vertientes, begins to tell her story.

“I was 29 years old, I started working as a Housing statistician in the territory; they had already spent three years trying to get accepted on this base, and nothing. "A woman driving trucks?" They said. A colleague who claimed to have known me since I was a child thought that I would not measure up, because of my gender.

"The secretary of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) warned me that some cars were placed at‘ Batalla de Las Guásimas ’; we went there and nothing for me. Time passed by and came to Vertientes Antonio Delgado, at that time a member of the Provincial Bureau of the Party, and the FMC colleague told him about me. Thanks to her management, they hired me ”.

Reyna was not afraid of how tough a ZIL 130 could look, her first vehicle, which she drove for a long time.

“Things have to be done to the current one, they are relatively new, but they have been exploited for some years on roads that are not good. I know it very well, I feel every little noise, a few days ago I noticed a "cricket" that not even my partner heard. The base of the water tank had split. "

And when one believes that there can be no more surprises, one manages to amaze. “When I left the‘ Batalla… ’base, I joined the Álvaro Reynoso Task (training for sugar workers) and studied Law, another of my dreams, because when I finished high school I did not reach the degree. Despite being a graduate, I prefer to continue driving. Many, including my daughter, thought that I would exercise it, but I opted for what I do, although knowing about the laws has helped me to defend myself in incidents on the road and to show that they have not been my responsibility.

“I have had to fight wars, even silent ones. There are those who do not understand that a woman can drive a truck, and they have wanted to take it off, but I have shown them that we can too. Luckily, everything has passed and today I am recognized, which makes me feel motivated ”.

Reyna calls women to fight for what they want: "Don't give up, if I had done it, I would never have been a truck driver."

For her it is an art to start it, warm up the engine, check that everything is in order and leave for the cane field, walk the way to the jogger at night or by day, and perform the most difficult maneuver, which concludes the journey of little more of an hour that separates the field from the industry.

She has a lot to do with fulfilling the 1,000-ton plan for her platoon. And just with the delivery of every 60 tons ready to grind, she begins the other journey.

But she does not get exhausted, she knows that she has to take care of her, as she always asks for her daughter when she leaves the house, and not only for her loved ones, also so that Reyna can stay for a while on the roads of Vertientes.

Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez