"The Count"

 

Source: idakoos.com

   Lieutenant Mario Conde is the main protagonist as well as leading detective in Havana, Cuba. He is describes by his superiors as being the best detective in the field, although his eccentric attitude and obvious lack of rigor have landed him a position in the Information Bureau, filling out cards and sitting at a teleprinter all day. This is all changed as a string of expulsions, suspensions and transfers causes Major Rangel, Conde's superior, to lift his six month of punishment as he has very little detective left in his arsenal.

     When Conde is first assigned the case, he is disgusted because it involves the murder of a transvestite. Conde's intense homophobia is a reflection of Cuban attitudes during that period, where Catholicism and Latin machismo dictated that homophobic relations is not only a sin, but an abomination. We get a glimpse of this on page 44, where Alberto Marquess and the Count are discussing the relationship between Alberto and the transvestite, Alexis. After the Marquess reveals they lived together, but were not intimate, the Count instantly has suspicions. "This world was too remote and exotic for him and he felt total bewilderment, with a thousand questions the answers to which he had no access to. For example: did that old queer like queers or men? And is a man who goes with queers also queer? Can two queers be friends, and even live with together without having it off with each other?"

The Butterfly is a reoccurring theme in Red Havana, as it symbolizes
a transvestites metamorphosis from one identity to another.
Source: Flickr Commons

     This reflects much of the feeling everyday Cubans have towards the LGBT community, not even considering them men at all because they have relations with another male. As the story progresses however,we get to see more and more of Conde's character change, and how his perceptions of the world morphs. In the end, he actually enjoys the marquesses company, even going to a transvestite party to learn more about this world that he has venomously despised.

      We also get a sense that Conde has become desensitized to murder, even enjoying it when he is on a case. In page 25, his partner remarks on how enthused he is with the case. "What they hell's got into you today? You're evil man..." Conde then responds with "No idea Manolo, but it's something bad Can you imagine, I cheered up when they said I was on a homicide case and could leave Headquarters!" Nevertheless, Mario Conde is an amazing detective and we get many indications of this throughout the book. For example, by page 23 Conde already has a hunch that this transvestite may have been murdered with the Catholic faith in mind. "Isn't it too much of a coincidence that this transvestite was murdered on August sixth?" Although this seems like a wild theory, in the end we realize his intuition and knowledge of the Catholic religion was the defining point in figuring out how the murder took place and who was responsible.