Voice of the Hispanic community in North CarolinaMiami, Aug 12 (EFE) .- Cuban writer and historian Enrique del Risco affirms that "Our Hunger in Havana", a testimonial book about the greatest economic crisis in Cuba, was written so that "this story would not remain in the caricature” of the so-called Special Period of the 90s, when, according to urban myths, “people ate cats and floor blankets”.“For many, the 'special period' was the experience that defined our lives.I wanted to write how that debacle is assumed, how we managed to survive and how we did not rebel, because, except for 'el maleconazo', Cuba endured that crisis,” Del Risco, who presents his volume this Friday in Miami, tells Efe.MEMORIES OF A POST-WAR WITHOUT WARAccording to Editorial Platform, from Barcelona (Spain), "Our Hunger in Havana", published this year and currently on a tour of presentations with the author, is "a book of personal memories of that post-war period without war that in the Cuba of the decade 1990 received the curious euphemism of 'Special Period'.“In a tragicomic tone, the author describes and explains the debacle that brought cats and banana skins to the status of delicacies, pigs to that of urban pets raised in bathtubs, and the virtual disappearance of public transport, gastronomy and alcoholic beverages”, adds the editorial.For Del Risco, professor of Spanish, literature and creative writing at New York University (NYU), it is "a story told from below, from those of us who suffered it, not from those who organized it."About the so-called Special Period, which in his opinion lasted a whole decade after the fall of the socialist bloc in Eastern Europe, this name responds to "a euphemism to hide the violent crisis that there was, not only economic, but political and social " ."It was one of the most complete crises in the history of Cuba," where people "belittled themselves and exercised physical violence on others," he says in an interview at the Koubek Center, of Miami Dade College (MDC), where he presents his work today as part of the Miami Book Fair program.Winner in 2018 in Spain of the Unicaja Fernando Quiñones Novel Award with “Turcos en la fog”, Del Risco says that in those years when, in addition to being poorly fed, people traveled by bicycle, “the only option presented by Fidel Castro It was going hungry until another supplier appears.”In this case, Venezuela.“For me it lasted from 1990 until October 1995 when I left, but it lasted much longer;I believe that the special period, at least in its basic stage, lasted until the rise of Chávez to power (1998), who began to send supplies, oil, and let's say that it eased the economic situation in Cuba a little”, comments the author.“SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAS NOT BEEN SEEN SINCE WEYLER”“Hungry was what I went through every day.On a social level, there was a famine such as I believe had not occurred in Cuba since the time of Weyler,” says Del Risco.The Cuban refers to the "reconcentration" in fenced fields of the Spanish general Valeriano Weyler, carried out to militarily annihilate the Cuban independence uprising of 1895 and that cost many lives due to famine.The symptoms of famine in this long period were very clear, both in the decrease in the body weight of Cubans and in all the diseases associated with these circumstances that appeared, such as "scurvy, beriberi, polyneuritis," says Del Risco.Although he wrote a large part of “Our Hunger in Havana” humorously, “to remember the past”, now the book “has become a kind of 'déjà vu'”.“Especially after July 11 (2021), which was much more massive than 'el maleconazo' of August 5, 1994. July 11 has allowed the regime to show itself in all its brutality, something that it tried to hide. in 94”, he stresses.The writer does not hide that the title plays with that of the famous British-American film "Our Man in Havana" (1958), which deals with the life of a British spy on the Caribbean island, and notes that, even so, his book It is a national reality.In the chapter "A Brief Course in Understanding Hunger," he discusses, as he explained, how the body responds to small amounts of food that are eaten.“One realized that, for example, corn mitigated hunger very little, that rice held it a little longer, that potatoes were more or less like rice and that meat, on the few occasions that it came, It gave you a different energy level.It is an experience common to all of us who have been very hungry, ”he details.In his opinion, "the great problem of the Cuban disaster has been the indolence of the world, to say the least.""There is also the ideological and political complicity with the Cuban regime, which at that time saw it as the last stronghold of utopia," the writer denounces.Therefore, he emphasizes, "it is unfair and false to blame the (US) embargo for Cuban hardships.""There are medical studies that say that Cubans became healthier during the special period because they reduced their fat intake, without thinking of all the people who died," lamented the author.Your email address will not be published.Required fields are marked with *Save my name, email and website in this browser for the next time I comment.{{#message}}{{{message}}}{{/message}}{{^message}}Your sending has failed.The server responded with {{status_text}} (code {{status_code}}).Please contact the developer of this form processor to improve this message.More information{{/message}}{{#message}}{{{message}}}{{/message}}{{^message}}It looks like your sending worked correctly.Although the server has responded correctly, it is possible that the shipment has not been processed.Please contact the developer of this form processor to improve this message.More information{{/message}}