MEMOIR

The Day Fidel Castro Almost Burst My Bladder

Memories of a life lived in Havana

Yes, cabrón, laugh all you want. My bladder wasn’t laughing, though. Photo credit Alejandro Ernesto /EPA (public domain)

It was 1988, and amongst the many events that left a mark on my life as a confused, almost rudderless, seventeen-year-old college student, one stood out the most. That was the year that I enrolled in the MTT (Territorial Troops Militia). I say ‘enrol’, but it is only fair to say that I was coerced to join, as I was one of the few pupils who was not already part of the Youth Communist League in my class.

However, it is also fair to say that being a hormone-driven male adolescent I was looking forward to the military challenge that this opportunity presented. Little did I know what was in store for me.

The MTT, as a body, was a branch of the Cuban Armed Forces, and it was supposed to be a voluntary and selective movement whose main function was to assist in the defence of the country. As a new member of this organisation I had to go out training some Sundays with a whole brigade made up of elderly people, other students, and workers. Women represented half the force of the MTT. I must admit that I never felt daunted by any of the tasks demanded of me, which included, shooting, digging trenches, and crawling under barbed wire.