The Snitch

The Snitch / Yusnaby Perez
Posted on April 8, 2013

In Cuba, and only in Cuba, there is a profession that is learned very
young; we all know it as "chivatón" (or "chivatona" if you want to brag
about gender equality), and it means "snitch." This "work" is even more
important for the government of Cuba than any doctor serving on a
foreign "mission" or the architects associated with Eusebio Leal, the
man in charge of restoring Old Havana. For someone who is not familiar
with the term, a chivatón is nothing more than the person responsible
for betraying to the police or the authorities any doubtful action
undertaken by a neighbor or a co-worker, simply for the benefit of
watching them fall.

This is learned in school, where to continue on to the university you
need more than good grades. Careers in Cuban are awarded through a
comprehensive roster. This roster includes scores based on each
student's participation in revolutionary marches, political activities,
whether they hold positions in the Young Communist Union, and if they
attend and participate in all the political and cultural activities held
by their school or the Cuban government. After being scored on these
activities, then come the grades in subjects like math and literature,
but the leading role is played by the political character of each student.

Now, how to accumulate these points? Each student gets the maximum
points by standing up in an assembly with their classmates and exposing,
or snitching on, things that a person didn't do. For example, I stand up
and I say, "Juanita didn't go to the Anti-imperialist Bandstand two
years ago for the rally to support the Five Heros, and I did." Then
Juanita loses 5 points. Then Pedrito stands up and says, "On May 24,
2010, Juanita came to school wearing the uniform incorrectly." Juanita
loses another 5 points. So everyone stands up and exposes Juanita and,
in the end, they give her the final score. Then going on to the next
person, Juanita, indignant, stands up and snitches on Pedrito, because
he said something bad about her.

Thus, they create envy and hatred among the students themselves, and
this is extrapolated to each and every one of the country's workplaces.
I remember when they distributed the Chinese-made Panda TVs to all
schools in the country. There was one TV per school and it would be
given to one teacher. So all the "contestants" had to debate who would
be the chosen one by saying bad things about all their opponents.

Then we have the example of the Committees for the Defense of the
Revolution (CDR) which is the "university of snitching," for the Party
members in each area, workplace, municipality, province, etc. After all
this we become natural snitches; the neighbor who has lived his whole
life unable to earn more than 10 CUC (a little over $10 US) a month and
who calls the police because he can smell the aroma of beef cooking
coming from the house of a neighbor. I experienced this particular
example in Santiago de Cuba.

I don't know what is more dangerous on the island: the police, Castro,
or the network of snitches.

These people are going to have a big problem the day the system changes.
I even know Cubans who, after leaving the island, continue snitching at
their respective capitalist jobs, and it has caused them big problems.
It's like a sickness, like going into a zombie state, like not having a
life. They become snitches to the point of emptiness.

We have to live with these people day after day and they are nothing
more than a kind of parasite created by the Cuban government to repress
Cubans from within. A source of self-drowning, self-censorship, of
collective fear and envy of your neighbor.

26 January 2013

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