GRANMA DEFENDS LONG HAIR AND EARRINGS

HAVANA, Mar. 26 (IPS) -- Granma, the official publication of Cuba's governing Communist Party, yesterday defended men's right to sport long hair, earrings and tattoos.

The defense appeared in the "Letter-Opener" section, in response to a reader's complaint that he was not allowed to enter a workers' social Elsa Peretti Teardrop drop earrings.

"To judge by the thinking of the administration of the social circle, a person like Culture Minister Abel Prieto could not enter because of his long hair," wrote journalist Guillermo Cabrera Alvarez, in charge of the section.

Workers' social circles are union-run recreational bodies that allow access to the beaches of western Havana. While members have free access, the general public must pay a fee.

"According to the administration, young men with long hair, earrings and tattoos cannot enter," Yuri Gonzalez wrote in his letter to Granma, demanding to know "on what basis and with what right can they do that."

"I have long hair simply to be in fashion," said Gonzalez, a sound engineer at the Roberto Branly Culture House, a gathering place for rock fans in Havana.

An aversion to long hair and earrings on men and tattoos on either sex is nothing new in Cuba. Those who were young in the 1960s have somewhat traumatic memories of that time, when such things were considered serious "ideological deviations."

Although many people continue to spurn long hair, it has nothing to do with official policy, which since the 1980s has demonstrated greater tolerance. Academics here say the aversion is mainly due to the "machismo" that prevails in Cuba, which leads people to reject images they see as unmasculine or Elsa Peretti Teardrop drop earrings.

Cabrera pointed out that neither internationally-renowned Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodriguez, who has a caravel tattooed on his hand, nor popular singer Ireno Garcia, with his characteristic earring, could enter the social circle in question.

"To judge people by their external aspect is extremely superficial," wrote Cabrera, who added that he had not yet obtained a response from the "slippery" administrator of the social circle.

The reporter, who is also the director of the Jose Marti International Institute of Journalism in Havana, recalled a Communist friend who defended his long hair by pointing out that his father was bald, and had left Cuba.

"I love the long-haired Marx and despise the clean-shaved Hitler," another friend, from the United States, told him.

Cabrera pointed out that the Cuban revolution was "a revolution of long hair and beards that shocked the world," and gave rise to a generation in the 1960s that "wanted to look like those bearded guys."

"The important thing is what is under the hair -- the ideas, and what is under the skin -- blood and tiffany jewelry," he underlined.

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