Cuba My Revolution

by Saily Marrero

Content advisory: torture, sexual violence

Cuba, My Revolution is a fictionalized memoir chronicling Inverna Lockpez’s early support of Castro, her disillusionment with the regime, and her eventual journey to the United States. The book covers several medical topics from mental health, torture, public health, and others. Because of the mature themes and graphic illustrations, the book is best used for adult audiences.

Lockpez’s story is about disillusionment and loss of trust with a government. For Sonia, our protagonist this begins with questioning the medical ethics of doctors during Bay of Pigs Invasion (or Playa Giron as it is referred to in Spanish). When told not to use anesthesia medication for the U.S. backed soldiers, Sonia reminds the doctor of their oath, “I will not permit considerations of religion, nationality, race, party, politics or social standing to intervene between my duty and my patient” (part 2, no page numbers). Although Sonia is initially in support of Castro and his government, she then defies orders and treats an enemy soldier and is punished for it. As a result, she is sent to jail and believed to be a spy for the Americans. This can create internal conflict for Cuban physicians where they must choose their oath or duty to their country and armed forces and therefore adhering to ethics that are not their own.

Sonia appears to experience post-traumatic stress disorder in the aftermath of her imprisonment and torture. While in prison she was subjected to being stripped, hosed with hot water, given rotten food, her fingers are broken, and electrically shocked. Not to mention the horrid conditions of her cell which includes non-stop flickering lights, excrement, and rats. At the beginning of her imprisonment the colors are mostly black and dark greys, its days later that the pages begin to include red as her condition worsens. Although she recovers physically, Sonia continues to have flashbacks to her torture throughout the rest of the book. Sometimes the mere mention of prison is triggering for her. The flashbacks are characterized by Sonia’s clear distress and blinding red and white images similar to her electric shocks she received. Ultimately it is the fear of being falsely imprisoned and tortured again that has her decide to leave Cuba.

Sonia displays incidents of disassociation throughout the story. The first being when she takes on the likeness of a black panther while in prison to fight back the prison guards. The second is when she’s sexually assaulted by Eduardo. Despite agreeing to sleep with him to get the money needed for her mother leave the country, she does not enjoy their encounter. During the assault she says, “I am impatient for him to finish, but he takes his time and I decide to become someone else. Maybe a mermaid…”. Showing one of the ways Sonia copes with traumatic events.

There are innumerable mentions of lacking resources such as food, female hygiene products like tampons, gas for patients, and even housing. Such scarcity puts patients at risk. For example, in Part 1 Sonia, the protagonist claims she was told to use little gas during surgery because the hospital would not be receiving more gas for another month. Having “overworked” and a countrywide shortage of doctors puts Sonia’s mother at risk during labor having mistaken her size for twins instead of a fibroid tumor. As if that’s not enough, there’s no blood for the transfusion she needs. The lack of resources only grows worse as the book continues.

The illustrations are reminiscent of the classic superhero style of comics mostly in red, black, and white. The color scheme is a callback to Castro’s 26^th of July Movement and its flag – a red and black bisected flag with the date in white in the middle. Like Worm by Edel Rodriguez, Cuba, My Revolution use these colors ironically and give new meaning to colors that symbolize Castro’s regime. At the start of the book, red is seen as celebratory color with Sonia wearing it to a New Year’s Eve party, however as the story progressed red comes to represent the torture, danger, and fear Sonya experiences. I should also note that the book has visually graphic depictions of war wounds.

The book has a brief author’s note by Lockpez explaining her feelings on creating this story. There’s also a picture of a young woman at the end of the book, but no explanation is given of who that is.

This graphic novel has the potential to provide a lot of discussion about various topics other than medicine like history, and politics. While the book gives insight into the early years of Castro’s government, I think it would be better for readers to have some background information on Cuba’s history, culture, and how Castro’s policies changed the country.

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Saily Marrero, M.S.I. is the Nursing & Health Studies, Psychology, and Biology Librarian at the University of Miami. In her free time, she enjoys reading graphic novels and practicing yoga.