Gusano (nickname)

Gusano (lit. worm, fem. gusana) is the Spanish language term for "worm". It is a name for Cuban counter-revolutionaries and those who emigrated from Cuba following the rise of Fidel Castro after the Cuban Revolution. The word was used as early as 1960 as a name devised by Fidel Castro to refer to his opponents within Cuba.

The implications of the name "gusano" have been multifacted and debated in various online publications. It has been argued in publications like Miscellany News and Latino Rebels that the term is more than just a political insult, it is also an ethnic slur against Cuban Americans and Cubans in general, when used by those sympathetic to the Cuban government to generally insult Cuban exiles and their descendants. It has also been argued by the publication Green Left that the term is simply a political term with no generalizing ethnic connotations, that is aimed specifically at Cuban counter-revolutionaries. Historian Himilce Novas has commented that the term "gusano" has at times been used as both a political insult and an ethnic slur, and that it has also been used as a prideful term by Cuban Americans themselves.