BAD BLACK MEN AND COMICAL CHINESE 97

group wrote a chapter with Loveira writing the first and last. There were
also illustrations for each chapter provided by twelve different illustrators.
The final chapter illustrated by Conrado Massaguer, includes a drawing that
succinctly encapsulates the intended political message as expressed in the
title. 'Un fantoche' is, literally, a puppet or marionette and Massaguer's draw-
ing clearly depicts members of Cuban society manipulated by a huge 'pup-
pet master' who is possibly intended to be a depiction of the dictator,
Machado (see Fig. 2).
 Loveira's final chapter 'rescues' the plot from previous episodes written
by the other members of the group who had introduced the racial stereotype
by attributing the crime to an occult revenge murder attempt. This, according
to Crist6bal P6rez, is evidence of an ideological split in the Minoristas which
would become more pronounced later. Those members of the group who
were to leave the Minoristas later and join reactionary movements wrote
the chapters in which the racial element was introduced. Crist6bal Perez's
reading of the novel differentiates between those authors who wished it to
be a criticism of Cuban society and the dictator, Machado, and those who
sympathised with the dictatorship:

 La corrupci6n national, llegada a un punto insostenible en ese segundo
 afio del gobierno de Machado, tenia causes sociales y eran 6stas las que
 habia que analizar y combatir. Fue esta la linea seguida consecuentemente
 por Emilio Roig de Leuchsenring y Rub6n Martinez Villena.
 El resto de los autores, de una u otra manera, desvi6 el prop6sito,
 mediante la utilizaci6n del costumbrismo y el exotismo, en algunos casos
 con un marcado acento de prejuicio racial. (1981: 137)

 The authors who were responsible for this 'prejuicio' were Alberto Lamar
Schweyer who wrote Chapter 3, Alfonso HernAndez CatA (Chapter 6), Jorge
Mafiach (Chapter 4) and Max Henriquez Urefia (Chapter 10). For example,
HernAndez CatA describes how the judge, Rodriguez Arellano is lured into
the secret world of the fiafiigo cult:

 [...] fue presentado a una mulata achinada que "echaba bilongo" (performed
 magic] y preparaba saquitos de brujeria; y por 6sta a un chino viejo que
 fueron a buscar a un fumadero de la calle de La Salud. Del chino pasaron a
 manos de un negro casi mudo, que los llev6 a casa de un cantador de sones
 con el que hicieron un viaje a Regla, filtimo baluarte de los finiigos. Poco a
 poco siempre difrazado [...] iba penetrando en un mundo desconocido de
 pasiones oscuras, de ritos milenarios, al mismo tiempo grotesco y terrible,
 con idolos deformes y pufiales certeros. (1993: 64)

 At each step, Arellano becomes more hypnotised by the terrible and
mystical attraction: