Talk:Abakuá

La Coubre explosion
One of the things that seems missing refers to the presence of absence of Abakuá during La Coubre explosion. So far all I know is that the Abakuá in Havana were strong in the dockworkers union, apparently they refused to unload La Coubre at the dock, and were replaced by untrained workers. Does anybody have information on this matter?

Inserts that were deleted from theLa Coubre explosion page include: “The Afro-Cuban dock workers were probably members of the secretive, feared and reputedly very violent Abakuá e.g.   ; they have fought and died for Cuban political causes at least since 1871. . There are reports that the Abakuá reputed to be vengeful resists the government's pressure, and others that it admires   and provides a special guard for Castro. It is probable that these dockworkers have an uneasy pact with Castro, as is so elegantly described by Jerome Du Bois (2004). Some report that there were a large number of executions after the explosion, others state that these dock worker were not qualified to unload explosives”

“Curiously, Saint Barbara is patron of arsenals and in Spanish refers to a ship's weapon storage facility. Saint Barbara is also considered an Afro-Cuban deity (Santa Barbara-Changó), a god of thunder and explosions who is worshipped by the Abakuá among others ; it is not known whether the new owners of the ship had these references in mind when they renamed it.” El Jigue 1-15-06