Havana Cuba. – The place where Juana Bacallao’s remains rest agrees with the thousands of people who showed her annoyance and indignation at the little attention that her farewell received from the Cuban authorities. The artist’s grave does not have any name that identifies it, so the people who go to pay tribute to her have no way of finding it, unless they ask expert workers at the Havana cemetery.
The artist, known as “The Black Goddess,” is buried in the Panteón de Cultura along with two other great figures of Cuban culture, the musicians José Luis Cortés and Adalberto Álvarez, whose graves are identified.
What explanation can there be for such an injury to his memory? What resources required that at least his tomb have something, no matter how minimal, to identify it? The answer is only one: disinterest and disrespect towards this artist who, however, was and is revered by an entire people.
The singer died on February 24 at the age of 98. She spent her last days admitted to the “Carlos Juan Finlay” Military Hospital in Havana, where she died due to complications from an infection. It was not until the independent press denounced her abandonment that the cultural authorities of the regime and the official media began to refer to the artist’s state of health.
At that time, sources close to his circle told CubaNet that Juana remained abandoned and forgotten by the authorities. Her funeral confirmed it, as could be seen in the photos of the wake at the Calzada y K funeral home in Havana. A few people came to say their last farewell to her and there were no official announcements until the last minute about what her funeral would be like. People noticed the difference between the context that surrounded the death of the famous artist and her farewell to other important personalities of Cuban culture, and they expressed it on social networks with a high degree of annoyance. Many of her followers wanted to accompany her body, but they were unable to find out where her last tribute would be paid.
In the Columbus Cemetery there are many unmarked graves. Many tombs are exposed or destroyed by time and laziness, by theft and looting to take any valuable objects from the deceased. Juana Bacallao deserved (deserves) that because of her work and her impact on the culture of the Island that her tomb at least has a humble identifier, so that her followers can continue to profess the admiration that she he won in life. Other greats of Cuban culture have it and Juana is no less on that everlasting list.
OPINION ARTICLE
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2024-05-04 12:27:40
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