Breathe
By Claudia Pérez Atamoros
PART II
The Reporter
I ASK WHAT IS OF INTEREST!
Thus, energetic, forceful, undaunted in front of a space full of men, Rosa Castro responded after the Cuban colleague shouted "you have no right to ask that kind of questions".
Rosa Castro was one of the very few women journalists who attended "Operation Truth" called by Fidel Castro's government in January 1959 to tell the world the truth about what was happening in Cuba and to refute the U.S. government's witch-hunt allegations.
-Areyou doing justice or revenge?
The question was one that would leave Fidel and his revolutionaries speechless, especially coming from a woman journalist and, to top it all off, "of the left and invited by his his people"
At his side, Isaac Rojas Rosillo was a witness to that hard but necessary question.
"I was a friend of Teté Casuso, whom the Mexican authorities put in jail because in her house they found all the arsenal that was being sent to Cuba. When Fidel triumphed, she became in charge of Public Relations with journalists. And she organized the conference "Operation Truth" to which she invited me.
"I went, the rest is history.
I stayed in Cuba for a month and portrayed the truth. I followed in Fidel's footsteps. I did a chronicle of when he arrived in Manzanillo: that place in the eastern province was like one of the lungs of the revolution..."
An unconditional friend of José Clemente Orozco, Tamayo, Alfaro Siqueiros, Revueltas, Gaona, Peón, Kahlo and Rómulo Gallegos from her Venezuela; admired by the women journalists of her generation and her time, such as Rosario Sansores, Elvira Vargas, Concha de Villarreal, Adelina Zendejas, La China Mendoza, Bambi, Poniatowska... Referred to by González de la Garza, José Luis Cuevas, José Luis Martínez, Ezcurdia... and many others, Rosa Castro made journalism her passion.
She was spied by the intelligence services of our country for her activity, for the friends she used to have and for her leftist affiliation; she was registered with the notation "communist catalog" by the Federal Security Directorate and they used to follow her everywhere and then issue reports such as: "She was spied by the intelligence services of our country for her activity, for the friends she used to have and for her left wing affiliation:
"CASTRO Rosa.
(2)
Exp-30-38-960.
FS/04|6/11
H-28-L-1.-Marz-4-60.-On the 2nd of the present day she was a speaker in the act that took place in the premises of the Mexican Association of Journalists, and she said that in Mexico nothing is known of what happens in CUBA because the news agencies only pass on what is convenient for the Yankee Imperialism: News agencies only pass on what is convenient for Yankee Imperialism, and that in her trip to Cuba she had the opportunity to meet Catro Ruz and to know the atrocities of Batista and that the Cuban Revolution in Latin America" (sic).
And like this one there are hundreds of reports about his life, whether he accompanied Siqueiros to Coahuila to a communist rally, whether he ate with the Chinese correspondent who was actually an agent, whether he participated in this or that event, whether he visited Lombardo Toledano, whether he requested interviews....
They were on his heels, then.
Still, nothing daunted her. Her confidence and strength were unique. Pressed to reveal her sources, she would reply so coolly "they are professional secrets".
He worked tirelessly, non-stop. He knew the fragility of his mind and body. He did not like to waste his time or spend it on nonsense.
She joined the Mexican Communist Party in 1928; helped Dr. Alfonso Millán to found the Floresta Psychiatric Hospital in 1938; was secretary of minutes, in 1942, of the Union of Mexican Film Journalists (UPCM); joined the Union of Press Editors; together with Miguel Ángel Mendoza and Oswaldo Díaz Ruanova, she founded Pecime, 1945, (Film Journalists of Mexico), an association of which she was the first president.
Together with the Llergos, she created Siempre! magazine, where she became the first woman editor-in-chief; she founded the Sociedad de amigos de China Popular in October 1953; in 1958, she participated in the creation of La Asociación Pro-Salud Mental del Niño; and she is considered one of the first women columnists in the country.
"Rosa has a defined political position, Rosa has made a career within Mexican journalism that owes her a place of honor... Rosa is the defender of the weak, Rosa is the one who always, in the most difficult position, knows how to come out on top. Rosa is another being who loves life... Rosa Castro is in many aspects the lucid and industrious point of journalism in my country, yours too because she has contributed to making it, be it in politics, in art, in the professionalism of a career previously forbidden to women". La China Mendoza, 1973
Rosa Castro fue la única <reportera mexicana> invitada, en 1960, al Segundo Encuentro Mundial de Periodistas realizado en la ciudad de Viena, Austria
Several texts say that she impressed her colleagues of both sexes because she possessed not only an uncommon intelligence and culture for the time, but also had a sensual attraction that did not go unnoticed and, in fact, did not go unnoticed by Diego Rivera, Narciso Bassols... and that captain of the ship Potrero del Llano, with whom she was about to marry...
His granddaughters Lorenia and Artemisa recall anecdotes and even having asked him one day:
- Did you sleep with Diego Rivera?
That one, their grandmother, who disliked dull people and silly questions, but loved sharp and direct ones, answered them:
-No!... although my feet were cold.
-How did you know then? they ask.
Mauricio Gonzáles de la Garza, left another written testimony about the attractive figure of Rosa Castro in relation to Narciso Bassols. "He is the most decent communist this country has ever produced. I had a love affair with him, but he didn't know about it. When he was Minister of Education, I was a half actress (1931-32). One day some friends invited me to have dinner with him. The bastards disappeared one by one. Narciso and I were the only ones left.
"Finishing dinner he offered to drive me home and I accepted. When we arrived, I saw that he was firing the driver. It was a surprise. The conversation had been on many topics, but did not include flirtation. I walked to my door and saw that he thought I was going to invite him in. -Would you like me to call you a cab? He didn't dare answer.
"Look Mr. Minister -and I smiled at him so he wouldn't think I wanted to play the little virgin who waters the flowers in the morning- for coitus it takes two and here only one is willing...and I closed the door".
To be continued...
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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