La Macorina

María Calvo Nodarse (1892 in Guanajay – 15 June 1977, in Havana), better known as La Macorina, was a Cuban prostitute who was a friend of ex-president José Miguel Gómez, whom she supported during the Chambelona War. She was the first woman to hold a driving license in the Americas.

Biography La Macorina was born María Constancia Caraza Valdés in 1892 in Guanajay, Cuba, then in Pinar del Río Province. She was of Afro-Chinese heritage. At 15 she left home and moved to Havana with her boyfriend. Although her parents tried to get her to return, she stayed in Havana. Facing financial hardship, La Macorina turned to prostitution. She assumed the name María Calvo Nodarse and moved to Galiano Street, near the Malecón, a popular location in Havana at the time, including for prostitution.

Her beauty, elegance and personality helped La Macorina enter the most select circles of Cuban society at the time. She was selective of her clients and in an interview by Guillermo Villarronda for Bohemia magazine in 1958, she said "more than a dozen men were at my feet, full of money, and begging for love.” She wore her hair short in the Garzón style, which was considered scandalous at the time, and smoked cigars.

By the time she retired in 1934 she had amassed a fortune. She owned mansions in Havana, Calzada, Linea and San Miguel,

— Poem by Alfonso Camín-Recorded as a song by Chavela Vargas The Asturian Alfonso Camín wrote a poem about her, "Macorina", which was later recorded as a song by Chavela Vargas, one of the best-known songs of her career. The chorus is a suggestive "Put Your Hand Here Macorina ...". Vargas met La Macorina in Havana "getting out of a white car" and was struck by her "slanted eyes and fierce hair." She later said of La Macorina “She was a beautiful woman. Black mixed from China. I saw her and I was speechless.” The song became the "lesbian hymn" and was banned in Spain during Francoism.

Origin of "La Macorina" The nickname La Macorina is reputed to have come from a drunken young man. Whilst walking past the Acera del Louvre (the terrace of the Louvre cafe where Cuba's literati and baseball players met), the young man on seeing her beauty said "there goes La Macorina!". He had meant to say "La Fornarina", mistaking her for the famous Spanish cupletista, Consuelo Bello, who was commonly called La Fornarina after the famous painting of the same name by Italian master Raphael of his lover Margarita Luti.

Cars and driving La Macorina's first car, a Ford, was presented to her as compensation by an influential politician who had run her over in his car. Having the car, she applied and was issued with a Havana driving licence in 1917 under the name of María Calvo Nodarse, the first woman in the Americas to be issued with a licence.

At the time, licences could be denied if the applicant was of an "immoral character". It has been speculated that sexual favours were given by La Macorina to obtain her licence. There are anecdotal reports that La Macorina had problems with the police soon after she obtained her licence due to her poor driving.

By the time of her retirement in 1934 she owned 9 cars, mostly European brands, including a red Mercedes and two from Hispano-Suiza, one white and one a red convertible. She was often seen driving around Havana in one of the Hispano-Suizas with popular music of the time playing loudly. The current owners of her cars sometimes bring them together as the "La Macorina Club" for exhibitions in Havana.