User:Many-Faced One/Lourdes Casal

Travel to Cuba and Castro Advocacy
(Addition to paragraph starting after "Casal began work on the Antonio Maceo Brigade, a project aimed at reuniting young Cuban-Americans with the island."

At its inception, Casal believed that the group should be composed of those who were either Cuban-born or born to Cuban parents that left Cuba when the revolution began.

(After "...discuss points of interest with Cuban officials."

The members of the Brigade were born mostly in the United States or Puerto Rico and were allowed to return to Cuba as a result of "The Dialogue". The Cuban government welcomed and accepted these former exiles, using different forms of propaganda that catered to them.

Casal and Sexuality
Casal did not openly address her lesbianism. In Casal’s youth and throughout her life, Cuba had staunch anti-homosexual policies and attitudes. In 1961, a raid on Havana was conducted to search and detain those suspected of hedonism, which included those who were homosexual. This raid and other raids like it resulted in violence against LGBTQ+ people in Cuba. Even though homosexuality was persecuted against, Casal did not criticize this persecution or the Cuban government. In Cuban revolutionary politics, the idea of being homosexual and a revolutionary seemed to be impossible. Hiding ones' sexuality was a common practice for many members of the Revolution, including those who occupied higher ranks within the government. Casal believed the suppression of her homosexuality to be a necessary price to pay in order to feel connected to Cuba. She aimed not to become a further target for those who opposed her writing and activism.