this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2025
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Do you think that Wikipedia is going to be unbiased on a country that has been the USA's enemy and under perpetual blockade and embargo for 70 years?
If I might suggest an alternative resource for any reader interested, Leslie Feinberg wrote a book which is free, called Rainbow Solidary : In Defense of Cuba. It is free to read as PDF here https://www.workers.org/wp-content/uploads/LavenderRed_Cubabook.pdf. It was hir last book before hir premature death. Zie was LGBT activist who also wrote Stone Butch Blues, Transgender Warriors and Trans Liberation : Beyond Pink and Blue.
It is a nuanced book, which covers the history of Cuba's LGBT community pre-colonization, under Spanish colonization, under US control after the Spanish-American War and the two dictatorships of the early to mid 20th century, moving into the communist regime into the 00s.
It covers the bad, machismo culture and the UMAP camps, slide back on rights at certain times, but it also quite clearly outlines the historical progress they made on LBGT rights, often ahead of the rest of the world. You say they were arresting trans people in the 80s-90s, when they were literally flying their doctors to East Germany to learn how to do state funded gender affirming surgery at that time.
It's a worthwhile read. Cuba is not and wasn't ever perfect, but the communist party and the LGBT community in dialectical relationship with one and another have shaped a course that is historically progressive and inspirational.