Rodeo in Cuba, a passion that resists difficulties
During the last five days, brave men and women on horseback challenged the beasts and competed in categories such as cattle bonding, cow milking or bull riding, while thousands of people crowded the stands to see them, giving cheers and applause before each feat with the lasso or the acrobatics on the horse.
“Despite the difficulties that the country is going through (the rodeo) gives more motivation to ranchers and farmers,” Eric Oses, one of the organizers of the competition at the Rancho Boyeros venue, on the outskirts, told The Associated Press. of the capital and the main arena in the country for this show.
This is the first time since the pandemic forced the closure of all social and economic activity in the Caribbean nation in March 2020, that the doors of this space are open for the agricultural fair that used to take place every year and where the national championship with the best cowboys from every corner of the country.
For the current occasion, the cowboys are all Cuban and were selected after going through the contests in their localities. Before, teams from Mexico, Colombia or Brazil came to measure themselves against the locals.
“This stimulates us, it is something great for the peasant, for those who like animals,” said Dani Rivera, a 47-year-old horse breeder, while showing “Presidente”, a white, elegant and distinguished stallion perfectly obedient to your owner. “We are fighting to continue with the tradition, of parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.”
Women also had a distinguished role in the rodeo, which began to include them in the 1990s.
“A woman can do everything,” Saily Pérez, a 55-year-old cowgirl from the Havana town of Santiago de las Vegas, explained to the AP. “In livestock farming, women are present, the same goes for the cow that milks her, that takes her calves… Livestock farming is going through a bad time, but the sport remains.”
In Cuba, according to official data, 79 stadiums were registered for the rodeo and more than half a dozen of them are associated with fairgrounds such as e
l own Rancho Boyeros, inaugurated in 1933.
Most of the followers of this sport or show belong to the Cuban Association of Rodeo Cowboys, which has more than 5,000 members, of which 600 are women.
This week, in addition to the showy bull riding, the participants of the national rodeo made ropes, speed and skill competitions surrounding barrels –the ladies– and the popular “coleo”, by which the rider must knock down the cattle by pulling the hind mane of the animal.
But like all sectors of the country, livestock and agriculture are affected and the peasants complain that they do not have feed for their animals, fertilizers or herbicides. The lack of meat and milk is notable throughout the country and shortages and long queues mark the day to day.
The authorities recognized that the United States sanctions pressing for a change of model on the island and the drop in economic activity due to COVID-19 undermined food production, so there is a new policy on the way for agriculture and livestock .
