ABSTRACT
There is much of Haity, in its own right, in Cuban history andculture. Haity was present in the drumming ceremony with the Tumba Francesa presided over by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes on October 9, 1868. Haity was present in the Baraguá Protest, a moment in which those who rescued Cuba’s national dignity took cognizance of each other by speaking in the Creole language. Haity was present in the holocaust that Flor Crombet faced in the Yateras mountain range. And now Haity is also present here in Cuba, in our festival through the revolutionary presence of those Haitian descendants who have found their voice through the day-to-day struggles on behalf of the Revolution’s consolidation in face of an inveterate enemy, whononetheless, shall be defeated. It is in that day-to-day presence, in the context of that struggle that Haity’s presence becomes one and the same with our spiritual sense of being, with our sense of solidarity in the organizing of life. Haity is present in the drumbeats of Gagá, in the invocation of the Radá and Petro—lwa-s who were always on the side of Fidel and the Revolution.
