Marilia Guimaraes. Photo: Mate amargo

Marilia Guimaraes is Brazilian; one of the greats, of those who do not give up, fighter for more than half a century; friend of Silvio Rodríguez, Pablo Milanés and Gabriel García Márquez. Degree in Neo-Latin languages, teacher, translator, writer, cultural promoter and leftist militant. Amadora of the Cuban Nueva Trova. Coordinator of the Brazil Chapter of the Network of Intellectuals in Defense of Humanity.

Marilia continues to cradle for all that girl who arrived in Cuba in the 70s of the last century with 22 years, two small children and enough strength to insert herself on an island in full boil. She was persecuted by the Brazilian dictatorship and, like many Uruguayans and Latin Americans, Cuba opened its arms to her.

Today he continues to bet on the Brazil of the people, together with Lula. And she continues—as a sentence of the love in which she believes—close to all the battles of the island that sheltered her for a decade and of the time she has had to live. His books tell of his journey, his exile, his wandering around Cuba. And he gives us confessions of the soul and his conviction that nostalgia does not matter; the moon is as big in Havana as it is in Rio de Janeiro.

One morning we meet again for that conversation between women, which inexorably makes the world better:

Maribel Acosta Ladies: You have had from a very young age a life linked to left-wing political militancy. In recent years you have written some books that have reflected this life, which includes your exile in Cuba... These books, where are their motivations, remembrance? Goodbyes?

Marilia Guimaraes: In the book En esta tierra, at that moment, I narrate my experiences about the extraordinary circumstances that motivated me to travel to Cuba and then, my experiences in Cuba and with Cubans. I wrote it in the early 2000s and it was published in several languages and launched with great success at the Havana Book Fair in 2002.

I really wanted to write about Cuba, but I knew it was very complex, first because it is very difficult to reflect its daily life; then because a phenomenon occurs that is that many people go to Cuba, spend a week and leave "expert" Cuba. I didn't feel like doing it... And then, after a few years without saying or writing about our years in Cuba, I first released in Spanish the stories about the ten years I lived there.

That book was the result of a real experience of day to day, of what I have done in Cuba, of the opportunities I had in contact with the Cuban people, of working with this people that I learned to love very much; and with all the energy I decided to help as much as possible, to work for the Cuban Revolution from my best contribution. A chronology of the Cuban Revolution that they gave me fell into my hands. With her I was able to organize details to put in that book, as part of the most significant speeches of Commander Fidel Castro. And it is that I lived in Cuba the kidnapping of Cuban fishermen on May 10, 1970, in which their boats were assaulted by armed pirates at the service of the terrorist organization Alpha 66, based in Miami and sponsored by the CIA. And those days of mobilizations and denunciations until they had to be returned. I lived through the Ten Million harvest in 1970 and the enormous effort of the Cuban people to increase sugar production.

I have lived in Cuba what the blockade means, which is of an absurd and incredible cruelty, which is more than 60 years old, which the world condemns and that the United States not only does not lift it, but increases it. I could see the blockade in reality because talking about the blockade is one thing and living it is something very different. Of course, solidarity groups work with great effort to break this blockade! And through culture we managed to break the blockade, circumvent it in many aspects. I usually say that the troubadours were the first ambassadors of Cuba, without detracting of course from the work of comrades who have managed in many ways, to buy equipment for the health system, for example. And we have done it, disassembling the equipment into pieces to be able to move them around the blockade; we learned to assemble them already in Cuba. It is very exciting to see how we achieved this and deliver necessary equipment to the blockaded island. For those of us who lived it, it was very exciting, very strong. So in that coexistence, every day I fell a little more in love with Cuba and Cubans. It was almost impossible not to fall in love with you... For example, I remember the story of the Manolitos: several companions in which I fixed the name of one and told all the Manolitos. They built the prototypes of personal computer that was used for the statistical analysis of the calculations in the harvest of the Ten million, which was made with pieces from here and there, from a recorder; Pure innovation. Cuba has always maintained that force of struggle for its sovereignty. Cubans have learned that the more they are attacked, the stronger they are.

Maribel Acosta Damas: What is the basis of your faith in Cuba at a time when the international media outlets are promoting very strong campaigns that question the current consensus of the Cuban Revolution?

Marilia Guimaraes: I have that faith because I have seen and lived in Cuba, no one has told me. At the beginning of the Revolution—when I was not yet on the island—Fidel said that Cuba would be a country of men of science; I have seen it on a day-to-day basis, in the results. You are a living example of resistance. And they grew, they grew a lot, a lot, a lot.... A Cuban has no comparison with any other man or woman who lives in any other country... by resistance, by strength, by creativity, by intelligence, by continuous growth. Therein lies the strength of the Revolution. It is a matter of love; of much love for the island and for humanity. It is very interesting to analyze how the Cuban people have created a new notion for the world; which is the concept of solidarity. Until the example of Cuba, we were based on love of neighbor, mainly as a concept towards which we are close; but Cuba has given meaning as an extension to all humanity, from sharing what it still has in the midst of all the vicissitudes to which the Blockade subjects them. That is exactly the center of solidarity for the Cuban people. And they are able to shake hands always, in any area; in culture, in science. Today you have five vaccines against one of the worst pandemics of the past century, created by your scientists, produced them and share them with others.

Maribel Acosta Damas: What did you take away from your life in Cuba and what do you keep until today?

Marilia Guimaraes: I keep everything Maribel... liberation, indescribable love... I have enormous respect for Cuba and its people; in particular I am in love with Nueva Trova, Cuban literature... I am in love with the geography of Cuba! And I learned that living there, on a day-to-day basis...

Maribel Acosta Damas: And how much did your love for Cuba influence the troubadour Noel Nicola?

Marilia Guimaraes: Yes... Noel was... It is still... I once told Vicente Feliú and then I reflected it in my book... I said: Vincent, true loves are imperishable because passion can pass, but love stays if it is true. And Noel was the best thing I ever had. He had a very strong temperament, but he had a very great sensitivity and love for Cuba and the Revolution. And he sang to the Revolution with extraordinary nobility. I'm so sorry he left so early because I know he would have done so many more good things. He is still kept in a little corner of my heart and if I could, I would bring him back...

Maribel Acosta Damas: What remains of Marilia who arrived in Cuba young with two small children to insert herself in another country, on an island full of challenges?

Marilia Guimaraes: I became another woman since I lived in Cuba. There is a very big difference between those who the dictatorship and exile took to other places and those who went to Cuba. Being in Cuba is a difficult challenge, it's true; But the Cubans filled me with so much affection, and knowledge, of learning possibilities; of a coexistence full of solidarity, which I can say that I finished forming my personality among you; in contact and learning with so many comrades of the historical generation of the Revolution such as Juan Almeida, Ramiro Valdés and Oscar Fernández Mell, among many others and among the people of the town. I remember my experiences in Minas de Matahambre in Pinar del Río, that town of copper mines, beautiful for its landscapes and its people. Every time I go to Cuba time flies, I don't sleep... I have so many people to see that I barely have enough life!

Maribel Acosta Damas: And how do you manage to continue seeing the Cuban doctor, with Dr. Manuel Licea?

Marilia Guimaraes: There you have it... Look what happened! So you can see why I have such a strong relationship with Cuba: When I arrived in Cuba, because of the tensions I was subjected to before, I debuted with thyroid problems and a Cuban doctor saved my life. It was Dr. Santiago Hung, who unfortunately died very young from lung cancer. And do you know what he did before he died? He took my medical records and asked Dr. Manuel Licea to take care of me as much as necessary every time I came to Cuba. I stayed for a long time but this was a deeply human and supportive gesture. Do you realize why it is such a great love I feel for Cuba? That's where I meet Dr. Manuel Licea. And every time I arrive in Cuba I go to see my doctor; I have read all his books on diabetes, it is part of my life as well as his family, which is also mine. I call Licea to know how he is, to know about him, for a diagnosis from a friend, for doubts about me ... It's part of my life...
And so I cultivated great friends who are my brothers, like the troubadour Augusto Blanca... Pablito Milanés took care of my children when they had a fever... Even Gabriel García Márquez in the afternoons in the Havana neighborhood of Miramar when we talked and told our stories, he said to me: Don't you see that you have a book about Cuba there? Why don't you?

Maribel Acosta Damas: Is that book of yours about Cuba all your confessions from the island or do you have more stories to tell?

Marilia Guimaraes: I have more... Now I'm doing a book about the other decades beyond the 70s, because I've never stopped going to Cuba and having daily contact with the island. I talk to friends every day and with current technologies it's easier, luckily.

Maribel Acosta Damas: Linked to Cuba, for a thousand reasons, is Brazil. How do you see this return of Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva to the presidency?

Marilia Guimaraes: Lula is doing everything to recover the country. Jair Bolsonaro was very well protected by all the fascist ultra-right and they are determined to make the current government difficult. But Lula has a great charisma, he is highly respected by the people and internationally and we are making progress little by little. It is being complex because Bolsonaro destroyed the country from end to end, stole a lot, let more than 700,<> Brazilians die from Covid, and destroyed education, health, culture and the advances in human rights that the country had achieved. Lula is rebuilding a country that looks like something out of war. Things are already being done... To give you an idea, in the school curriculum, the Bolsonaro government removed essential subjects for training, and the impact even reached universities. We are rebuilding the country.

Maribel Acosta Damas: Can Lula emerge victorious from the attempts to destabilize his government?

Marilia Guimaraes: Since January 8 of this year, when the coup attempt was made, every day the extreme right is trying mini-coups. But Lula has managed to organize the investigation into these events in such a way that a lot of evidence can be obtained, facing Brazilian justice and the international gaze. I think Lula is going to make it. The investigations are being done very rigorously. Even details of Bolsonaro's denialist position on Covid have been discovered that involve falsifications. He has already marked about five crimes. This is a man who has deep ties with the dictatorship of '64 in the pretensions of stopping the sovereign advance in Latin America.

Maribel Acosta Damas: What do you think are the strongest challenges that Lula has ahead?

Marilia Guimaraes: Fifty, sixty million Brazilians who voted for Lula are working hard to take back the country, and we will succeed. I believe that the most difficult challenge is to combat organized crime and to do justice, true justice. We must dismantle the crime that Bolsonaro promoted. But he is going to fall, I have no doubt, because he has done everything outside the Constitution and you have to respect the Constitution. We are going to see that house of cards that was forged under the corrupt government of Bolsonaro crumble. And as the investigations advance and the cruelties of the boslonarista government become transparent, the polls show that 20. 6% of those who voted for Bolsonaro have already gone to Lula's side.

Maribel Acosta Damas: [translated] I have to ask about that, because we are talking about a country — according to the electoral vote — practically divided in two. There is half a country in favor of Lula, but half a country against. Do you think it will be able to move forward in such a complex panorama?

Marilia Guimaraes: It's a difficult scenario. However, as the investigations into Bolsonaro's management progress and the corruption of his government and his crimes become known, many people begin to realize that they were wrong. And the numbers are already changing because families are against violence and do not agree with murderers entering schools to kill children, as happened now in the south of the country. We have a lot of struggle ahead of us, but we will move forward.

Maribel Acosta Damas: Haven't you exhausted yourself from so much struggle? You're already a veteran...

Marilia Guimaraes: I don't get tired. No way. Life is that. There is no intelligent life without struggle. Struggle makes us better, makes us more tender and more human. I don't know another life Maribel. I don't know... do you know? There are days when you say, Oh my god, it could be different! A country as spectacular as Brazil, with all the mineral riches and a happy people, one cannot give up fighting for a fuller life... Life is about fighting. And that's what makes us different from fascists, which is love for people, for country... In my case I have three nearby homelands: Portugal, Cuba and Brazil, I have three nationalities ...

We have the example of the struggle of the Landless Movement (MST), the largest social movement in the world. The Bolsonaro government has played a trick to put him under investigation and discredit him and stop his fight. The work that the MST has done in all these years is wonderful, its educational work is extraordinary. In the area of agribusiness, the MST exports organic rice and milk throughout Europe. During the Covid 19 pandemic, on farms we grow food for the people. More than 100 million Brazilians fell into extreme poverty and starved. The MST helped feed these people wherever possible, in almost every state in Brazil. So doing an investigation of the MST is another of Bolsonarism's dirty games against Lula, to say that Lula protects the MST and that he does not protect others, intentionally misrepresenting Lula's battle against slave labor in agribusiness. Bolsonarism deploys its campaign to supposedly discover the MST. But certainly what they will discover is the value of their work during all these years. The right continues to devise strategies to complicate Lula's government. But since it was shown that Lula's imprisonment was a conspiracy to prevent him from becoming president, the truth will continue to emerge in everything and with the faces of the conspirators.

Maribel Acosta Damas: Do you think Lula has enough strength, even physical strength?

Marilia Guimaraes: Oh, of course! He is very strong. He does gymnastics. Walk. It is true that it is very stressful, but he has a very strong heart. Didn't he prove it? One has to think about following. Lula is trained. He comes from the Northeast where he went hungry when he was little. Physically and biologically it has a very strong DNA. It's very good. It also has the youth of the one who fights. When you stop fighting you get old. Here in Brazil it is said that if you don't want to grow old, you can't put on your pajamas to sleep.... If you're struggling—and you see people in their 80s, 90s there, working—then there's no old age. It's about being right with yourself and loving. I call the secret of youth work.

Maribel Acosta Damas: For the coming books do you have anything else to confess that you have not told yet?

Marilia Guimaraes: Ohhhh... I have a lot of things left! I hope I live a long time because I will always be saying something. In 2007 Oscar Niemeyer and I created the Brazil chapter of the Network of Intellectuals in Defense of Humanity. Lula himself, Fernando Moraes, Leonardo Boff, Letícia Spiller, Silvio Tendler and many other Brazilian artists and intellectuals are part of the Redh. It is already seventeen years old. And by the end of the year we are preparing a meeting with all the chapters of the Brazil Network in Rio de Janeiro to discuss culture and sustainability. There we will be forging many extraordinary moments of recounting and thinking.

Maribel Acosta Damas: When do you return to Havana?

Marilia Guimaraes: I'm planning in July. If I can... It is that since Lula came back to the government, we do not stop working. The whole Network of intellectuals worked the Election Campaign. And after he won, even more work. But happy! And we are seeing the fruits. We have managed to get the Network of Intellectuals to work together with the movements of solidarity with Cuba. We are now campaigning to help Cuba. And something very interesting is that we are collaborating with the remodeling of the Hospital of the Havana municipality of Diez de Octubre and we started with the Manuel Fajardo Hospital. Right now there is a brigade of young Brazilians who are working in Cuba.

Maribel Acosta Damas: For Marilia who associates her life with work and culture, especially the Cuban Nueva Trova, what is the Nueva Trova song that defines her?

Marilia Guimaraes: It's hard to decide... But I think I'm defined by a song that Augusto Blanca made for me called Don't forget that you were once the sun. And the other is Pequeña serenata diurna by Silvio Rodríguez, because in that song there is somehow the request that I made to Silvio to make a samba-song. I stole it forever! I argued with Silvio, I think because of nostalgia, that the sun and the moon were bigger in Brazil than in Cuba. Silvio told me no and I said yes. Until one day he took me to see such a big moon on the Malecon in Havana, that I was embarrassed. And so the moons and sunsets have become symbols for me to communicate with my friends in Cuba.

Do not forget that once you were sun, / do not forget neither the wall, nor the laurel;

Do not cease to be amazed to attend a new birth in your garden.

Don't miss a window, /don't give up your mornings/of downpours and games,

nor dig up old treasures. (Augusto Blanca)

As I love Nueva Trova so much, I also adore other songs such as Créeme by Vicente Feliú, which will be a hymn for life, or Para una imaginaria María del Carmen by Noel Nicola, made in 1977. I love all the Nueva Trova, I love El Necio de Silvio, I love Sara González, her song La victoria is one of the strongest songs of the Cuban Nueva Trova. I'm friends with Amaury Perez, Pancho Amat... Oh and I love Raul Torres... I love all Cuban trova because my life is in it and Latin America is there!

Maribel Acosta Ladies: Thank you Marilia. I wish you many huge moons wherever you are... because you also draw that imaginary María del Carmen by Noel Nicola.

Havana, one day in May 2023

María del Carmen, so clean and so free, / Clean of being a virgin, free of prejudices.

María del Carmen, your surrender is total / Because the mysteries drive you crazy. (...)

María del Carmen, although I have not seen you / I could paint you in all your details.

María del Carmen, it will be inevitable / That one day I stumble upon you in the street.

María del Carmen, if I come to find you / I will have, for sure, to love you and love you and love you.

For an imaginary María del Carmen

Noel Nicola

(Taken from Bitter Mate)