Fidel Castro admitted a decade later his responsibility for the persecution of homosexuals in Cuba in the 1960s

The Cuban state used the Military Units to Aid Production to confine and subject homosexual men to forced labor during the 1960s. (Illustrative image Infobae) In the 1960s, the Cuban state used the military to persecute and apply a policy of confinement and forced labor against homosexual men, whom it considered carriers of a "capitalist deviation" incompatible with the Revolution. Part of that policy was carried out through the Military Units to Aid Production (UMAP), centers to which citizens singled out for their sexual orientation, religious beliefs, or political positions were sent. Years later, Fidel Castro acknowledged his responsibility for the persecution of homosexual people during the early years of his government. "If anyone is responsible, it is I," he stated in an interview with the Mexican newspaper La Jornada. Castro's statements were made more than a decade ago, when he admitted that discrimination reached homosexuals during the 1960s and 1970s; however, the damage caused to the population remains present in the collective memory. The then former Cuban president attributed his lack of attention to the issue to the political and military situation the country faced in those years. "I could not attend to that matter... I was immersed in the October crisis, the war, political matters," Castro maintained, referring to the 1962 missile crisis and other conflicts of that period. Fidel Castro acknowledged his personal responsibility in the persecution of the homosexual population in an interview with the newspaper La Jornada. (Illustrative image Infobae) The UMAP operated in the second half of the 1960s as agricultural work centers. The state presented them as production and service units, but young people who had committed no crimes and who were considered removed from the social, political, or cultural parameters defended by the government were sent there. Among those interned were homosexual men, religious believers, opponents, and people accused of antisocial behavior. The work was concentrated in agricultural activities and was carried out under military control. Transfer to these centers could occur without a prior court sentence. The policy against homosexuality was embedded in a context in which the Cuban government linked certain identities and behaviors with the influence of capitalism, lack of discipline, or opposition to the Revolution. Homosexual men could be considered counterrevolutionaries, a designation that facilitated their marginalization and their being sent to the UMAP. The former Cuban president justified his lack of attention to the abuses by the priority he gave to the 1962 missile crisis. (Illustrative image Infobae) Upon reviewing those events, Castro stated that they were "moments of great injustice." He also noted: "I am trying to delimit my responsibility in all of that because, of course, personally, I do not have that type of prejudice." The persecution did not end immediately after the closure of the UMAP. For years, homosexual artists, intellectuals, and workers faced labor restrictions, public marginalization, and pressures that, in some cases, led to exile. Since the 1990s, homosexuality gained greater visibility in Cuba and public initiatives against discrimination emerged. Mariela Castro, director of the National Center for Sex Education, promoted sex education campaigns and defended the recognition of rights for LGBT people. In 2010, however, denunciations continued about detentions and pressures against activists. The cited article mentioned the application of the figure of "pre-criminal social dangerousness," which allowed the detention of people under the presumption that they might commit crimes. That framework showed that Castro's acknowledgment of responsibility coexisted with demands over discriminatory practices that still affected sexual minorities on the island.