Women in Cuba continue to wait for the “justice” and “equality” the communist Castro dictatorship lectures the rest of the world about.

Carlos Alejandro Rodriguez in Diario de Cuba:

‘They tried to merge us under a single authority’

60 years after the triumph of the Revolution, most Cubans do not even acknowledge Violence Against Women.

A feminist anthem is sweeping the world: “A Rapist in Your Path” was created in Chile during the recent protests against the government of Sebastián Piñera, and has been sung by feminist groups in Paris, London, Barcelona, Bogotá, Guatemala and Nicaragua. And in Havana, too, unexpectedly.

A group of Cuban women ranging in age recorded the anthem in the courtyard of the Higher Institute of Art. It was not a public place, nor was there a general appeal for other women, considering themselves feminists or not, tired of gender violence against them, to join in.

But the performance had the support of a man: the rector of the University of the Arts.

This is not an isolated event in Cuba: after the triumph of the Revolution, women, like everyone else, had to adapt to request permission to organize events in public spaces. But they, historically subordinated to masculine power, ran into a patriarchate clad in olive green, bearded and sexist, who wanted them, conveniently, on their side.

“The Federation [of Cuban Women] (FMC) was founded to unite women and constitute a firm pillar of the Revolution,” stated Vilma Espín Guillois back in the 80s, one of the woman guerrillas who accompanied Fidel Castro in the Sierra Maestra, and presided over the FMC until her death.

With such a past, now it is hardly surprising that the closing speeches at congresses of Cuban women are pronounced by hardliners of the Government and the Communist party, especially by patriarchs who aspire to issue orders that are to be followed.

In this national context, neither is it surprising that 4 out of 10 Cuban women, almost half on the island, have been assaulted by their partners, without recognizing that they have suffered gender-based violence.

Only one out of ten consider gender-based violence, or Violence Against Women, a “central problem,” as indicated by the National Survey on Gender Equality conducted by the state National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI) in 2016.

What was the FMC doing while women were being mistreated by their husbands, or raped in the street? Worse still: How has the FMC –and the political power behind it– contributed to the fact that Cubans do not realize that they suffer from VAW?