For Estrella Marina Arcos Luque there is no such thing as defeat. She affirms it with the determination that comes from her years, mostly dedicated to the work of the Revolution and the unconditional love for her two children, the pride of her existence.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- She says that she learned it as a child, back in the guano hut and dirt floor where she was born and where her father, whom she considers responsible for her love of her homeland and reading, spoke to her about unity as the essence of victory and instilled in her that culture is the way forward, always.
Estrella has a prodigious memory that shines through in conversation constantly, in a very natural way. She takes care of it because she knows she possesses a great gift, which is why she writes about her experiences and fills pages and pages of memories while constantly informing herself in every way possible: "I try to keep up to date with all the triumphs of my children and my country."
She has in his memory, like a photograph, the morning of January 1st, 1959, and how his father composed a décima in pencil, on a sheet of paper, because he knew that a time of light, transformation, and harmony was coming.
With his father, she went to the carnivals of freedom, there in Holguín, and also to the first celebration of the International Workers' Day in Revolution. The family arrived in Las Tunas on 10 October 1962, so that he could manage the Libertad roofing factory, and here they have been seed and reason.
She saw his mother grow from her love for all her children, even when the death of one of them, Alberto, who fell in the battle of La Gallina, left her broken, and she knew how to strengthen herself in the most intense pride, that which no one could take away from her.
Estrella went to Minas de Frío and became a Makarenko teacher. Now, she smiles as she remembers that she was given her Young Communist League (UJC in Spanish) membership card on 31 July 1966, at the summit of Turquino Peak; a memorable day, like so many others in her life's journey.
She was a teacher at the Cuban Communist Party Party School. She has several medals that she always wears gallantly. She likes to delve into local history and, especially, into everything that has to do with her family and the unlimited dedication of their lives. She declaims beautiful poetry, some of her wit, and is a furious reader of everything she feels can make her better understand these complex times that demand all the love possible for Cuba.
Her story, she told me, "has nothing extraordinary about it;" that is why she spoke to me several times about her dead brother, about her working-class children, about the many things that surround her and which she considers greater than she, her endeavors does.
But Estrella is a Cuban mother; part of the generation that grew up with the Revolution and has sacrificed herself like few others for the collective work.
Her voice is also a tribute to those who, like her, have taught people to read and write, have been trained through personal sacrifice, and are still among us, saying that a better country is possible and showing off the grey hairs that are their life's dedication.
Knowing her reminds us of Martí: "Make men, whoever wants to make people."
