The past few days have brought home the emotional and psychological horrors of the closet in dramatic fashion...having suffered the death of two people I knew well.
What the article will not tell you is that Norberto and Mercedes' relationship was marked by a vicious war of words, public humiliation and offensive public emasculation. Mercedes mercilessly mocked Norberto in public about his lack of manhood, his "faggotry", his so-called "flacid" dick, his femininity.
Perhaps it was the nature of the santeria religion that made her accept, in her strange and twisted way, his sad attempt at hiding his homosexuality. Perhaps it was her dire financial circumstances. We will never know.
What we do know is that Norberto was no saint by any standards, either. To all who knew him, it was obvious that he was in the closet. But in his case the term "closet" was relative and kind at best. His struggles with his sexuality where so plain and so painful to witness, they would at times leave one speechless. It induced in him psychotic mood swings that ranged from bubbly, schoolgirlish flirting to manic, almost savage, verbal harangues sprinkled with threats physical of harm. By one account, he had killed his first wife in Cuba, before being allowed to flee that island during Castro's Mariel purge.
Still, the drama continues...because both were santeros and santeria does not sanction autopsies but city and state law require them in criminal cases. Neither body has been released pending the outcome of a judge's ruling.
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