User talk:Migdiachinea

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[edit] Welcome!

Hello, Migdiachinea, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome!  --evrik 19:22, 25 October 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Talk page

Mig 15:35, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

Mig 15:35, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Re: What are you referring to?

Hi, first of all thank you for expressing your concerns. If I remember well I was referring to a page you created that has been deleted since (therefore I don't have any log to check). The page was very short. Since I couldn't help but remark that your username was very similar, I left a message on your talk page explaining the reason of my edits (I reverted your edit on List of Cuban Americans at the same time since it was pointing to the said page). I have no problem with the current state of the pages now. Thanks a lot for your input (and your story is really interesting and I think it has its place on Wikipedia). Regards, -- lucasbfr talk 05:08, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

Sorry this message seems a bit harshed and telegraphic. English is not my first language and I am very tired at the moment. My apologies! -- lucasbfr talk 05:09, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

___________________________________________________________________________

I've just deleted my information -- so, let's move on. It doesn't matter in the final analysis. I don't have the power nor the connections to change anything significantly. More importantly, I don't have the time to engage in a struggle over my contributions to entertainment or society at large. Thank you --Mig Mig 14:52, 21 November 2006 (UTC)14:48, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

Well, it's your page and you can do whatever you want. But I'm puzzled about your decision to blank it out, and a little disappointed. I thought it was a good idea to put your personal story on your user page, in your own words.
You know, Wikipedia does not determine the value of your contribution to society. It's just an encyclopedia. You do have a distinguished career, so I expect that one of these days someone else will write an article about you for Wikipedia, and other people will contribute to it.
In the meantime, I hope you will decide to contribute to the encyclopedia on the basis of your own expertise. There are WikiProjects on culture, including film and broadcasting, for example. -- Rob C (Alarob) 18:59, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

I meant to say my information which would automatically be regarding such struggles because that's what my career has been about -- struggle for some semblance of equality and opportunity. I'm not Spielberg with an influential uncle to "discover" me. I mean, talk about "vanity." I obviously don't need the wrath of yet another powerful entertainment mogul to further blacklist me for speaking out.Mig 19:11, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

Alabama Rob: my old friend and mentor Fred Haines, who has an Acadamy Award nomination for his adaptation of James Joyce "Ulysses" to the screen, did a small edit on the same same page that now reappeared on me with the same note.[1] He is a very incredibly intellectually-inclined good person, now retired. I'm in the midsts of an allergy-related asthmatic reaction to allergy medication. I have email and connection problems. I'm despondent. Mig 19:36, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

I thought it might be a case of the blues, and I hope your spirits revive soon. I restored your user page so it looks as it did before you blanked it. You can always erase it again, but I hope you'll at least wait a little while. -- Rob C (Alarob) 20:21, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

I'll wait. I do have the blues. My face is quickly disappearing from the side of a snow-covered mountain and I have to get it back before the melting snow brings it down. Mig 20:33, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] We're keeping the article about you in Wikipedia

Migdia, the discussion about the article has been completed, and the decision is to keep it. (Please remember that it is against Wikipedia guidelines to edit an article about yourself.)

Although I proposed deleting the article, I am glad about the decision. Does that make sense? -- Rob C (Alarob) 01:45, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

New Stuff

Thanks, Alabama Rob, for everything! I'm no longer feeling sick. My agent is retiring, however -- which means the search is on! I'm taking pastries to his office later today. I'm heavy-hearted. Mig 20:40, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

The WGAW Magazine published an important letter of mine -- edited -- which I include here at the end of this. Our film society had shown "Volver" thanx to me because I lobbied for it and had sent them so much info. I'm glad. It was a great flick -- one which I recommend. I sent Pedro Almovodar (the movie's director/writer) an email through his agency --CAA (used to be mine, too). I'd love to meet him. BTW, I lived in Tennessee for one year when I was little -- a place called Dixie that I'm not even sure it's on the map. Next to the Baptist church, and the cemetary, where I used to play hide & seek with other kids -- that may be why I write horror and Sci-Fi. Next week is a candle light walkabout in Historical Glendale. It should be totally fun. I did that at the Alhambra, in Spain. Gorgeous by candlelight with Spanish Classic music playing in the bg. This paragraph is full of the stuff I'll never forget.Mig 23:32, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Here's my unedited letter to the Guild -- coincidentally, it was published in the Writers Guild of America, west (WGAW) December "Written By" edition alongside a letter from Gore Vidal -- so you never know who's going to read your stuff.

Writers Guilf of America, west Written By:

Kudos to Diana Washington Valdez and Lorena Mendez-Quiroga for their work "Border Echoes" on behalf of Mexican drug-related murders and MOST particularly the killing of innocent young women at the U.S. border with Mexico-- a story covered in the November 2006 issue of Written By. As a Latin woman, I can truly relate to their concerns and I applaud their selfless commitment

As a Cuban-American, and a professional screenwriter for many years, I’m also saddened by the deaths of freedom floaters, i.e., those attempting to cross the 90-mile-wide Florida Straits on flimsy rafts--a decision made by thousands of Cubans each year.

But whereas no one in their right mind would defend the corrupt Mexican government vis-a-vis their dealings with their own impoverished citizens, their drug cartel, and/or journalists covering such stories, a number of powerful entertainment figures have endorsed Castro's totalitarian and equally corrupt regime. For example, Steven Spielberg spent eight-hours schmoozing with the Cuban despot and dubbed it "the most important moment of his life."

Jack Nicholson and others have also endorsed Fidel Castro on the trade publication Variety after visits to Cuba.

It is disheartening how gifted, well-meaning artists--eyes ablaze with romantic notions of revolution--see what they want to see and believe what they want to believe, ignoring the sad reality that is totalitarian Cuba.

Perhaps these well-meaning individuals are not aware that in Cuba you would not enjoy the constitutionally guaranteed freedoms which we all enjoy in the United States of America. It is, in fact, a lack of free expression and association which have compelled almost two million Cubans (15 percent of the entire Cuban population) to seek exile abroad.

Cuba’s dictator not only has cracked down on free speech and actions, but he has also demoralized and segregated those individuals who peacefully have strived to lead others in Cuba to the warmth of freedom.

Specifically, the Castro regime has recently sentenced writers, journalists, economists and other human-rights activists to prison for 20-30 years for doing what many of us do on a daily basis in the United States: speak freely to our fellow citizens and petition our own government.

Case in point is Hector Palacios, a leader and organizer of the Varela Project, who was recently sentenced to 25 years in prison. The Varela Project is an effort to use constitutional avenues to bring actual freedoms of speech and association, amnesty for political prisoners and leeway for free enterprise and the citizens of that nation. Mr. Palacios sacrificed to garner the 11,600 signatures that were part of this petition filed with the Cuban government––a petition which the Cuban government ignored.

Castro summarily executed three men who were trying to commandeer a dilapidated barge to Miami. This barge or tugboat, "13 de Marzo," acted as a kind of ferry connecting the vicinity of Regla to Havana Harbor. On July 13, 1994, the vessel left on what--by all appearances--was a routine trek carrying 22 men, 30 women, and 20 children. In reality, those 72 people were attempting to flee the prison island. The children on the boat ranged in ages from six months to 11 years of age. In all, 41 people were drowned in the attack.

Indeed, Castro is a "genius," as some have put it--a genius at covering up his crimes against humanity, and a real genius at using Hollywood celebrities for his self-serving propaganda.

Personally, I don’t get an opportunity to speak or write much about what goes on in Cuba, or with respect to Cuban-Americans issues, or even Miami, outside of a small circle of friends, because the media prefers to hear from non-Cuban-Americans on Cuban issues since we are not perceived to be "objective." But who better than us Cuban-Americans? I’m frustrated by this double-standard. Everyone else, it seems to me, is able to write about their own backgrounds without impediments.

Therefore– here, for my fellow WGAW members’ contemplation, is a partial list of the Cuban children murdered by Cuban authorities in the tugboat attack of July 13, 1994.

IN MEMORIAM:

Helen Martinez Enrique, 6 months old Odalys Munoz Garcia, 1 year old Cindy Rodriguez Fernandez, 2 years old Yolindis Rodriguez, 2 years old Jose Carlos Nicole Anaya, 3 years old Angel Rene Abreu Ruiz, 3 years old Gisella Borges Alvarez, 4 years old Caridad Leyva Tacoronte, 4 years old Juan Gutierrez, 10 years old Elieser Suarez, 10 years old Juan Mario Gutierrez Garcia, 11 years old Yasser Perodin, 11 years old Yousel Eugenio Perez Tacoronte, 11 years old Marjolis Mendez Tacoronte, 17 years old.

Thank you for your patience –

Migdia Chinea

Mig 23:32, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Merry Christmas to everybody and a Happy New Year to all the world!" -- Charles Dickens Happy New Year!! Joyeux Noël. Feliz año nuevo!

[edit] Migdia Chinea

I've decided to start the year by writing on my page (I'm so proud of my page!). I dedicate this page to my son, Frankie, my puppies Zoe & Cicero, my nephews Charles Anthony and Christian Tyler Flynn, my brother Carlos Antonio (Charles) and his wife Jonna, my mamy Violeta Ebby (Mimó), my papy José Antonio (Toñito), my step-dad Michael, my grandparents, all of my relatives and ancestors, all of my friends, and most particularly, my Great-great grandmother Eusebia (Ebby) Ávalos (Béthencourt) Blanco de Suárez Lillo and, of course, Wikipedia.

My mom and I sat in her kitchen at Christmas 2006 where she recounted to me all sorts of interesting and colorful anecdotal stories about my family history, which I would like to record here.

This is a work in progress.

I'm Cuban-American. However, my family comes from all over the world. My Great-great grandfather, Santos Suárez de Lillo, was born into a well-to-do family in Lillo-Felechosa, Asturias, in the Northern part of Spain. This is located above Galicia and Portugal. Santos' father was a medical doctor.

Although Castellano, (Castilian), or Spanish, is spoken in Asturias, the Asturianos have their own dialect similar to Gallego (Galician) -- which is, incidentally, a separate language in and of itself with its own literature. Unlike Cuba, the geography of Asturias appears to be a geological explosion towards the sky. Above all, it is a vertical land of imposing mountains, such as the Picos de Europa, where rivers flow towards its irregular coastline. Roman and Medieval ruins, protected by UNESCO, are still in existence. Later on in Iberian history, the centuries-long Moorish occupacion left few scars on the Spanish Principality.

The cuisine in Asturias is rich with fabada (a slow cooked fava bean stew) and cheeses washed down with local sidra (cider). Cubans owe much to Asturias in their cuisine.

At the end of the 19th century, when Santos was 15-years-old, he stowed away on a ship en route to Cuba, based on news that Cuba was gorgeous and the place for an independent young man to be. When Santos arrived in Havana, he stayed with Don Jaime Cervera, a well-heeled Peninsular (Spaniard) who was was a close and estimed Suárez family friend. Don Jaime lived along the famous Paseo del Prado which ran for a mile or so, from the Malecón, the seaside boulevard, to a little past the Capitol building. Filled with theaters and dance halls, the street was filled with music from passing carriages to the sidewalk cafes. You could hear the sound of the waves crashing on the sea wall, and would end up hectic, with scores of people jostling for a "quitrin" or "volante" (two-wheeled horse-driven carriages of Cuban origin used much throughout the island) in the shadow of the Capitol dome.

Here's an excerpt taken from my original screenplay "Old Havana and The Great Pimp of Saint Ysidro," which takes place in 1910 La Habana (an approximate time period as it relates to Santos' story).

HAVANA

"A sea of people. Parasols, high collared blouses, beaded dresses, white-linen suits, crisp "guayaberas," and Panama hats.

WE MOVE along the wide boulevards as horse-pulled carriages compete in traffic with clunky, noisy motor cars and electric trains.

Havana is lived fortissimo.

The city is bustling with activity: hundreds of cafes, casinos, clubs, bars and billiard rooms, hooting ferries and mailboats, church bells ringing throughout the day, the grinding rumble of heavy wagons, violins and guitars scraping in all directions, soldiers in gold and white presidential garb stomping boots and blaring trumpets, carriages clattering at top speed through the cobblestone streets--and all the incessant prattling and shouting.

PUBLIC SQUARE

A white-bearded preacher from the countryside with a wild look in his eyes stands in the park's glorieta, where concerts are held. He proclaims he was sent by God -- shouts, waving a hand-lettered sign -- and shouting --

I'm God's messenger! Repent, ye sinners!

But no one is listening --

Prosperous-looking Criollos (Caucasians born in Cuba) and Peninsulares (native Spaniards), merchants, prostitutes out on the town, and properly-chaperoned women--they all stand at a street corner, waiting to cross.

Well-mannered ladies raise their long skirts just above the ankle to board the electric train while men watch--expecting, longing for something.

And the CUPOLAS...

Coppery mosaics, gilt-crosses and flesh-colored bell towers that crown the churches--they all glitter in the afternoon sun.

THE WIDE TERRACES

Where washerwomen hang clothes to dry that SNAP in a flutter of whiteness.

BEHIND THE CITY - SUNSET

A view of the sea so overpowering that the fishing boats seem to be sailing above the roofs." Migdia Chinea

Don Jaime loved Santos like a son and since he was a wealthy landowner, he granted Santos a property in Santa Clara, province of Las Villas, Cuba, a place which had been abandoned. He said to him "if you like it, Santos, you can have it." So Santos left for Santa Clara, saw the property, and liked it. So he kept it and fixed it. After a stint in the circus, Santos opened a Nickelodeon on the premises -- this is an early movie theater charging an admission price of five cents, or a nickel. To entertain his patrons, he would perform as a sword swallower and pugilist -- the sort of skilled artistry he learned while working in the circus. When people became got bored with nickelodeon and sword swallowing, Santos built a boxing ring to attract customers, and when that, too, phased out, Santos opened "La Favorita," a furniture store. So he became a furniture dealer and also carried Singer sewing machines and safes. More, jeweler and diamond importer. He amassed a large fortune.

Adventurer that he was, Santos had many love affairs and numerous children everywhere on the island. However, when he decided to marry at age thirty-six, he chose a Cuban girl, Eusebia Ávalos Blanco (nicknamed Ebby) -- aged fourteen -- also from a well-to-do Cuban family who had arrived there in the 18th century. They were in cattle ranching. Eusebia's parents had died when she was a baby, so she was taken in by Ávalos relatives and adopted their surname. Her real last name, however, was Béthencourt, which derives from Islas Canarias and Spain. This is the name (with many German and French variants) of the first conqueror of the Canary Islands (1417), a knight of Norman-French origin. It is also common and widespread in Latin America.

Norman-French is sometimes used to describe not only the modern Norman language, but also the administrative languages of Anglo-Norman and Law French used in England. When Norse invaders arrived in the then province of Neustria and settled the land which became known as Normandy, they adopted the Gallo-Romance speech of the existing populations — much as Norman rulers later adopted in England the speech of the administered people. However in both cases the élites contributed elements of their own language to the newly-enriched languages that developed in the territories. [2]

When Eusebia became pregnant with Santos' first child, he insisted that the baby be born in Lillo, so they embarked on a long journey to Spain. During that trip she was very ill. However, upon arrival to Lillo, she gave birth to a baby girl who was born sickly and died shortly thereafter. While still in Asturias, she became pregnant with my grandfather, Exequiel de la Cruz Pompeyo Suárez De Lillo Ávalos (Santico), and he was born in Lillo. They then returned to Cuba.

Founded in the 15th century, Cuba was an island populated predominantly by Caucasian immigrants from various European countries (especially Spain). Black people were brought into Cuba initially as slaves to work the plantations after the island's native population ceased to exist beyond the 16th. Century. More here. The Chinese arrived in the 19th. Century as freemen to work on the railroads.

The dominant and more numerous white Cuban population was maintained as such by immigration laws aimed at securing a "white-population" majority for fear of a Haitian-like rebellion which had left an estimated 10,000 blacks and 2,000 whites dead and more than 1,000 plantations sacked and razed. Violent conflicts between white colonists and black slaves were common in many islands, most particularly Haiti, then called Saint Domingue (Santo Domingo). Bands of runaway slaves, known as maroons (marrons), entrenched themselves in bastions in the colony's mountains and forests, from which they harried white-owned plantations both to secure provisions and weaponry and to avenge themselves against the inhabitants. The attacks certainly presaged the 1791 slave rebellion, which evolved into the Haitian Revolution, and which finally toppled the colony.

My ancestors' estate in Santa Clara, Province of Las Villas, Cuba, was very large -- and it was located right in the center of town at Villuendas Numéro 6 Norte entre Independencia y Marta Abreu. It had 22 bedrooms and many architectural details typical of seventeenth century Spanish/Italianate/Colonial style. More here. They had a full staff of Spanish and local servants to take care of the property and their personal needs. Santos became well known for his modesty, generosity of heart and for taking in Cuban nationals and Spanish immigrants who arrived on the island –- penniless, disoriented about being in Cuba and/or inexperienced. One such person, José Arias, became a jeweler himself, under Santos' tutelage, and opened a jewelry store in my family's property. Santos was then known as "El Toro de Oro," "The Golden Bull," for his many philanthropic deeds. Eusebia was a plain-spoken, but well-bred, equally-committed lady.

Among some of the real properties owned by my family, they owned the buildings which housed the Chinese and Hebraic Cultural Colonies and my family, thus, attended all of their functions. In time, Eusebia had two other children in Cuba, Blanca Victorina Suárez de Lillo Miró-Barnet Ávalos and Ramón Aquilino Suárez De Lillo Ávalos.

A woman of very strong character, anachronistic beliefs (she belonged to a more modern age) and lofty ideals, Eusebia used to say that the reason Santos married her was because he never saw her nude. Nudity between spouses was a sign of "disrespect," in her view. For her part, Eusebia contributed money and jewelry to the Cuban struggle against Spanish rule and -- having fought against Spain briefly as a child, she became an informant for the rebel cause, concealed weapons in the family property, and attained the rank of Captain of the Cuban Rebel Army. Eusebia was considered a "Mambisa" i.e., women actively involved against the Spanish rule. Her upper-class social status and her marriage to a prominent Spaniard (who was secretly supportive of Cuba's independence), acted as an excellent cover for Eusebia and her compatriots.

The island of Cuba was one of the first pieces of land in the Americas occupied by the Spanish. It would become the colony that Spain fought hardest and longest to keep. Cuba was the proverbial "jewel in the crown" for Spain. Throughout the second half of the nineteenth century -- and after four hundred years in the hands of the Spanish Crown -- Cuba revolted against colonial rule. Despite their paltry military resources, the Cuban rebels were able to keep the well-equipped and experienced Spanish army at bay, thanks largely to the support of the island’s population. The Cuban insurgency spanned more than thirty years, with the tension between Spain and the rebel movement peaking in the Ten Years War (1868–1878) and the War of Independence (1895–1898).

Reporter James O’Kelly, who covered the Cuban rebellion in 1869 for the New York Herald, used the word Mambí to describe to his American readers the territory freed from Spain’s control by the Cuban fighters: “The land of the Mambí is to the world a shadow-land, full of doubts and unrealities. It is a legend, and yet a fact. It is called by many names, yet few know where it begins or ends its frontier. Spaniards call it the manigua, or Los Montes, Americans talk of it as Free Cuba, and those who dwell within its confines, Cuba Libre, or the Mambí-Land.”

Mambí was the name not only of the rebel territory but also of the men -- and women -- who fought there. The origin of the term remains unclear. The most accepted theory assumes that it is a deformation of mbi, a common prefix in Yoruba, the West African language spoken by many Cuban slaves. The Spanish soldiers, unaccustomed to that letter combination, came up with the word Mambí to refer pejoratively to the Cuban rebels. The African-sounding epithet was meant to evoke the ample presence of black fighters among the insurgents.

Adopted as a badge of honor by the rebels, the name was widely used throughout the anticolonial wars. In 1869, at the beginning of the Ten Years War, the Cuban rebels gathered in Guáimaro, a small town in eastern Cuba, to convene the First Constitutional Assembly of the Cuban Republic. Ana Betancourt (Béthencourt), the wife of one of the opposition leaders, asked to speak on behalf of women. Like Abigail Adams, who, on the eve of the American Revolution in 1776, asked her husband John Adams to “remember the ladies” and extend to them the rights of the young republic, Ana Betancourt wanted the leaders of the Cuban rebellion to include the female population in their vision of a free Cuba. The insurrection was attempting to break the chains that class and race had forged, she told the assembly, and she expressed her hope that the war would also help bring down oppression based on gender and “unpin women’s wings.”

Ana Betancourt was one of the many Cuban women -- black and white, rich and poor, rural and urban -- who fought against Spain’s colonial rule on the island. These rebels were known as Mambisas, and they became symbols of Cuba’s struggle for freedom, a symbol so powerful it continues to be heralded today. Early signs of women’s political activity on the island can be found in the actions that female slaves took to fend off their masters’ power, including their participation in slave revolts.

More here. Although opposition to slavery only occasionally reached the level of political articulation and organization a revolt required, historical records are filled with examples of slave women who subverted the social order by running away, complaining to the authorities about the sale of a relative, or refusing to follow the master’s or mistress’ instructions.

Free women also had a tradition of social involvement from which to draw. In her book, "The Social Transformation of Eighteenth-Century Cuba," assistant professor of history and Cuban studies at Florida International University, Sherry Johnson, contributes to a new understanding of colonial Cuban history and challenges existing interpretations of Cuban history by advancing an alternative to the "sugar is forever" thesis. In doing so, Johnson provides answers to fundamental questions regarding Cuban identity in the 19th century in terms of demographics, military spending, as well as social, spatial, and economic change on the island long before sugar became the principal engine of its economy. She also shows how immigration (Mainland European, Eastern European and Middle Eastern) had an impact on the elite and middling ranks, analyzes family life in the city, and explains how the consequences of political reform resonated to the lowest ranks of Cuban society.

Johnson also demonstrates how the island’s position as a military post forced women to take the reins of their households and businesses on the many occasions when the men were on military duty. Especially vocal were the "limosneras" (women seeking alms), a group of several hundred women who demanded from the government the benefits and pensions to which they were entitled as the widows of officers and soldiers who had served the Crown in Florida, before Spain lost it to Britain in 1763.

The transformation of Cuba from an unstable military post in the 1700s to a wealthy plantation society in the early 1800s had a direct impact on women. When families benefited from the more stable rhythm of civilian life and the men no longer needed to rely on their wives’ help to keep their businesses going, women lost whatever legal and economic power that they had enjoyed, if only sporadically. The new ideal of femininity portrayed women as angelic and passive. But this ornamental position had some advantages. With the new affluence came a gradual expansion of women’s educational opportunities,and a greater exposure to attitudes and ideas that celebrated individualism and questioned traditional mores.

The flourishing of the slave system also meant exponential growth in the number of Cubans of African descent. This segment of the population would play a crucial role in helping develop a distinct identity for the island. More here. By the early 1800s, a rift was growing between those who pledged allegiance to Madrid and those who thought Cuba had needs the colonial power could not fulfill. Women contributed to marking this division and strengthening anticolonial sentiment in numerous ways. Throughout the second half of the century, spurred by the vision of a free Cuba, Cuban women’s involvement intensified until, in the 1890s, it reached the level of a mass movement. The wars turned largely uneducated women with limited political experience into savvy and passionate political players. Their collective work was crucial to the survival of the rebel army. They staffed makeshift hospitals and war supply centers; they worked as messengers and undercover agents; they organized fund-raising activities to buy weapons; they joined revolutionary clubs; they wrote pamphlets, hid ammunition, and even shot enemy soldiers and rose through military ranks.

But wars are not fought only on the battlefield. In the home, the square, the street, the country road, the hidden conuco (a small garden or field next to a humble dwelling), thousands of women took a political stand. Within their families and their communities, women created a climate that celebrated Cuban nationalism and helped shape a new society. The Cuban insurgency was as much a battle of ideas as of bullets, its scope reaching far beyond the struggle to put an end to a colonial government.

Throughout the first half of the 1800s, two opposing world views came into conflict: one fought to maintain the hierarchical social order the ancien régime had carved, where monarchies ruled, the church was prominent, and colonies served the interests of their home country; the other embraced liberalism and its defense of democracy, individual autonomy, a free market, secularism, and technological innovations. This tension was present not only in the colonies but also in Spain, where the contest between absolutism and constitutionalism resulted in periodic crises and changes of government. Few voices, however, were heard in Spain, even among the most liberal quarters, that demanded that democratic rights be extended to the colonies, since that would have prevented the country from reaping the economic benefits the colonial relationship provided.

Spain’s defense of the status quo in Cuba was applauded by Cuba’s wealthy classes, particularly by the plantation owners, who feared a slave revolt might follow the defeat of the Spanish army. And yet, these same men realized that slavery was an anachronism and that, if they were going to have an economic future at all, it lay with a capitalist, free-market society.

A parallel ambivalence in regard to slavery existed among the insurgents. When they rose against Spain in 1868, their political vision, similar to that of America’s Founding Fathers in 1776, reconciled both the exaltation of freedom and the acceptance of, or at least tolerance for, slavery. It would take arduous negotiations before the rebel government adopted the abolition of slavery as its cause.

Yet, for all its contradictions, the Cuban insurgency sought to erode the values on which the ancien régime was built, including the practice of enforced labor. For inspiration, the rebels dipped into the rich political culture of their age. They were conversant with the Enlightenment ideals of the American and the French revolutions, yet they relied on the transcendent and emotional rhetoric of the romantics; they adopted the defense of freedom and individualism found in liberalism and shared the concern for justice that characterized the turbulent working-class movement of the 1800's.

Thus, women (like Eusebia) undermined traditional forms of authority and thus helped foster a revolutionary climate. Scholars of nationalism like to stress that nations are the product of a determined group of people who successfully create a sense of collective identity. The nineteenth century was a time for Cuba to imagine itself as an entity separate from Spain, a time for Cubans to both highlight existing social practices and create new ones that differentiated them from the colonial power.

Nineteenth-century Cuban women’s determined support for the rebel cause contributed to solidifying the notion that stepping outside the legal system was not only acceptable but heroic. They were instrumental in the creation of ideas that directly or indirectly challenged the status quo. As transmitters and producers of values, as keepers of tradition, Cuban women played a significant role in building a Cuban sense of identity. In the rebels’ iconography, women occupied a prominent place, their courage often invoked to inspire the fighters.

More here

It is said that Santos buried diamonds, jewel movements for pocket watches, coins and gold bars in a secret place in my grandfather's house. Threfore, I'm probably a multimillionaire if I could ever get to the hidden treasure. However, everything my family owned was confiscated during the Castro dictatorship and the building is now a government office. My family, who lost everything, now lives in the United States and Spain. However, I know where the diamonds are buried, a task left to my grandmother, Lutgarda Gómez Suárez de Lillo Ruiz, who was a language arts country school teacher by profession and devotion. Despite my current struggles as a screenwriter, and much to my chagrin, I may never get to unearth my family's hidden wealth. Boo hoo!

That's it for now.

More to come about my illustrious, and rather notorious in one particular way, father's side of the family, also from Las Villas Province in Cuba.

Historical background here:

Having watched PBS Rick Steves' tour of the Hillside towns of Italy -- Tuscany and Umbria -- which go back to Etruscan times or 2700 BC. My father's family name has its origin in Umbria -- a fortification called Todi, where many of its citizens are surnamed Chinea.

This is a work in progress.

Todi [3] Origins and History of Todi

"The name Todi perhaps means "border" (tutere) or "fortified hilltop" (tutus), however, exactly how Todi was founded is unknown. Legend has it that Tutero, chief of the people of the valley of the Tiber, decided to build a village near the river. One day the future Tuderti (inhabitants of Todi) were sitting on a picnic cloth eating, when suddenly an eagle seized the cloth, soared into the sky and then dropped it onto the top of the nearby hill. People considered this to be an omen of the gods and built the town of Todi on top of that hill."

"History suggests that Todi was founded by the Umbrians in about 2700 BC. Both the Etruscans and then the Romans left traces of their civilization. On pre-Roman coins the city is called Tutere. The Romans called it Tuder or Tudertum. It was sacked by Crassus in the Civil War (83 B.C.) and Augustus established a colony here. During the war of the Goths, it withstood Totila during a long and severe siege. The Lombards failed to capture it. Todi and Perugia remained the two chief fortresses defending the passage through the duchy from Rome to the Exarchate. It was included in Pepin's donation to the Holy See.[4] In the 11 C Todi was a republic, and in 1340 its municipal statutes were drawn up by Bartolo. In the Middle Ages, Todi was almost always Ghibelline, and was in constant conflict with Perugia. Boniface IX gave the city to the Malatesta of Rimini, but soon took it back. During the 15 C, Todi often changed rulers - Biondo Michelotti, Pandolfo Malatesta, Francisco Sforza (1434), Piccinino, Gabriello Catalani (Guelph), who was treacherously slain (1475). The city fell into the hands of Giordano Orsini, who was expelled by Cardinal Gillian della Rover (Julius II). In 1503 the Orsini were again expelled, on which occasion the fortress of Gregory IX, reputed impregnable, was destroyed."

"The Middle Ages marked the beginning of the notorious struggle between Todi and the town of Orvieto and in the 12 C Todi became a free city-state with a much enhanced territory."

"In 1500, after a long period of decay, the old splendor returned with the artistic forces of Renaissance, a magnificent witness to which is the Temple of the Consolation. Bishop Angelo Cesi promoted this process by patronizing numerous beautiful architectural works."

Here's an excerpt from their phone book: Spina Chinea Gaudenzi Roseto per i non Vedenti della Città di Todi - Pg. Chinea Annalisa Recaito Telefonico Tele3482814110 758942225 09 - 12


Mig 19:41, 1 January 2007 (UTC)Mig 18:32, 3 January 2007 (UTC)Mig 20:14, 10 January 2007 (UTC)Mig 08:33, 12 January 2007 (UTC)Mig 17:32, 12 January 2007 (UTC)Mig 01:55, 17 January 2007, (UTC) Mig 17:17, 22 January 2007 (UTC)Mig 02:20, 31 January 2007 (UTC)Mig 01:39, 12 February 2007 (UTC)Mig 02:24, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

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