“Neither my father nor I voted in elections before 1959,” vet holds

SANCTI SPIRITUS, Cuba, Feb 16 (ACN) “Neither my father nor I voted in the elections held in Cuba before the triumph of the Revolution,” said José Herminio Castañeda Rodríguez-Gallo, a veteran of the last war for liberation waged in the country.

Castañeda recalled, for example, that his mother was ill during an election in the 1950s and the owner of a nearby rural country store who wanted to run for councilman told his father that he would see to it that she was admitted to a hospital if they voted for him. “However, my father flatly refused, aware as he was of the man’s mean intentions,” he stressed.

When comparing the elections of the so-called Republican era with the current ones, he referred to the great differences between the two. “Back then the elections were a farce and represented the interests of the ruling class, but now they take place without any personal motivation whatsoever,” he remarked.

José Herminio Castañeda Rodríguez-Gallo, 89, has served four terms as a delegate to the Municipal Assembly of People's Power in the province of Sancti Spiritus.

“I was elected by my constituents, with no strings attached, false promises, money or fanfare,” the vet stresses. “Before January 1959, those who had more money to spend on the campaign trail would win, and the ballot boxes were guarded by police and rural guards. Today, however, any student or worker of the required age can be elected to represent the people from the constituency to the national level, and it is our pioneer students who guard the ballot boxes.”

“Besides, there are no posters on the facades of buildings and lamp posts, nor exhortations to vote for anyone, because the elections are transparent,” concluded this former member of the Rebel Army.