In the dark before dawn, Juan Victor Hernández Campo was cheerleading a 5,000-strong crowd in the outskirts of the Cuban provincial capital of Pinar del Rio. “Aquí, quien no salte es yanqui!” he roared. “If you don’t jump, you’re a Yankee!”
Those in front of him, in T-shirts commemorating Fidel and Raúl Castro’s 1953 attack on the Moncada military barracks, roared back and – as much as their age allowed – leapt to their feet.
When Hernández asked them for more, one woman pointed out he would struggle for lift-off himself given the size of his belly. He responded by pulling his T-shirt tight and proudly rotating like a courting turkey. “¡Abajo el bloqueo!” He shouted. “Down with the blockade!” The crowd laughed and waved small Cuban flags.
