Castrating the Castro Brothers

or:

is Raul Castro gay?

(in the words of Seinfeld, not that there's anything wrong with that)

since the coming to power of the Castro Brothers (not quite as funny as the Marx Brothers, and with far less pedigree), rumour has it that Little Brother Raul is gay. is there any truth to the rumours? lately, the rumour has been given new airing, such as in this rather well-done piece.




rumours of raul castro's homosexuality
probably began as a result of his
boyish looks and somewhat effeminate
deportment. note his inability to grow
a full beard (he's never had one).


is there any truth to the rumor?

first, a bit of history on the Great Cuban Sexual Paradox. first, Cuba is a typical (and stereotypical) macho society. men are men's men. men don't cry. men don't eat quiche (or much of anything else, given the shortages and rationing).

on the other hand, there is a known practice where Cuban men engage in homosexual sex with gay men, but do no think of themselves as gay. there is even a word for this type of men (it's not a polite word, but here it is: "bugarrones"). Bugarrones are manly man, and not gay ... they just have sex with gay men.

i kid you not.

(the word "bugarron" should sound familiar. it likely comes from the English "buggerer." how it ended up in Cuba's lexicon is a mystery, but a good guess is through the hired Jamaican sugar cane cutters that brought their slang to Cuba in colonial days. "Buggerer" became "buggeron" which became "buggaron" which became "bugarron." i am guessing, however.)

anyway, on the subject at hand, Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas (himself gay) stated (and I paraphrase), that Cuban gay men don't want to sleep with other gay men. They want real men. And real men they get. Enter the bugarron. These are men who claim they are not attracted to other men, but will have sex with them simply to relieve their sexual tension ... at any rate, that seems to be their story (and they stick to it).

being gay in Cuba is bad. not macho at all. in the early days of the revolution, lots of gays found themselves in labor camps where the macho Rebels swore they would make men out of them (through working them half to death). it's not so bad now, but it's still not nearly as accepted as it is in the US.

being a bugarron, while not exactly ok, means that at least you're not gay. it's not so much something you tell others about you ("Hi, I'm Raul the Bugarron"), but more something you tell yourself ("Yeah, I have sex with other men, but I'm not gay, I'm just a bugarron.")

the construct of the bugarron sounds like a fictitious category (the gay who is not gay) that allows macho men to be gay and still be macho.

oy vey.

anyway... so is Raul Castro either gay or a bugarron, in Cuban parlance? rumours have been around for years that he is.

i don't think the rumours are true. a concurrent rumour had it that Big Brother Fidel had been castrated by Batista's forces during his imprisonment and torture. this rumour persists to this day even though King Fidel has fathered at least four children since -- oh, ok ... it COULD be an enormous (no pun intended) cover up.

these types of rumours, in my view, are not so much about the truth but about wishful thinking on the part of an oppressed people. having no way to defy the authority of the authority figures, they use rumours to emasculate the patriarchs (note how both rumours involve questioning the manhood and virility of the Castro Brothers).

i have other more tangible reasons to believe Prince Regent Raul is not gay.

first, after 47 years in power, NOT ONE JILTED LOVER, NOT ONE DISATISFIED PARTNER of Raul's has come forward despite the hundred of thousands of Cubans who have fled Cuba. one would think the odds are slim that no one who has had a gay relationship with Raul has not had a chance to come forward to tell their story in all this time.

second, many since-exiled Cuban observers, including Carlos Franqui, have written about the sex lives of the Rebel leaders during the early days of the Revolution. none of them documented any homosexual hanky-panky on Raul's behalf. any of them would have loved to break that story, as it were.

so, you heard it here in Cubaland first. Prince Regent Raul is not gay. though Cuban sexual culture is, to say the least, bizarre.