Feeding the flame
My daughter, Kikita, just returned from a trip to Cuba. She visited the places of my childhood and was finally able to connect the stories to the places that live only in fading memory for me.
What she saw and experienced during that amazing week has impacted her deeply.
I'll let her take it from here....
My whole life I've grown up hearing the songs about how beautiful Cuba is. I've seen the paintings. I know Cuba is beautiful. I've always known.
"Pearl of the Antilles"
"La Reina de la Mar Caribe"
"Cuba linda de mi vida"
Despite constantly hearing it growing up, something happened when I was actually there, standing in front of things I'd seen and heard about my whole life.
I found myself constantly in awe. It really was beautiful.
Looking out at the ocean . . .
or Havana . . .
or just pine trees . . .
or the Malecón . . .
or the hills . . .
or El Cristo . . .
or even a sunset . . .
I wanted to dance. I wanted to sing. I wanted to paint. I wanted to write.
I wanted to drink it in forever.
Every song about Cuba and it's beauty became instantly more meaninful to me once I had seen it with my own eyes.
Now as I listen to these songs that made me smile as I grew up, I want to cry. They are inspiring a fresh sense of loss. A new understanding of how painful this exile is. They are bittersweet. They celebrate the beauty of Cuba while mourning its loss.
And I now feel more fiercely than ever the desire to see freedom for my people.
Here at MBFCF we try to stay focused on family and Cuban-American life. We try not to get too political, but we definitely do not keep our positions and beliefs a secret. If you've been reading for any amount of time, then I'm sure you know where we stand. That being said, it would be impossible to keep politics completely separate from a Cuban-American family, because it was politics that originally ripped our families apart.
Seven years ago, Mami, Adam, and I were planning to take a missions trip to Cuba with our local church. We were getting all of the paperwork ready to go when something happened to change Mami's mind. The (c)astro government was arresting political dissidents in a crackdown that would come to be known as "La Primavera Negra" (The Black Spring). The political unrest on the island worried Mami to the point that she changed her mind about going and we went to Miami instead. (Hey, I'm not going to complain, we had a fabulous time, but that's not important right now.)
During the crackdown, that began on March 18th and lasted two days, there were 75 dissidents (SEVENTY-FIVE!!) arrested. They ranged from journalists to librarians to human rights activists. Some have been paroled. Most remain in prison. Our good friend, Marc Masferrer, at Uncommon Sense has the whole story.
Today, seven years after we canceled our original trip to Cuba and now immediately following my return from the island, Mami and I will be attending a private screening of a documentary titled "Oscar's Cuba."
The music was done by Arturo Sandoval and the word on the street is that Andy Garcia will be doing the narration. =D
A brave film-maker by the name of Jordan Allot was in Cuba working on another project when he heard about Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet González. Jordan then took it upon himself to expose the truth about Dr. Biscet's reality. Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet González is a Cuban dissident who had served a 3 year prison sentence, was released, and was re-arrested about one month later during the Black Spring and then sentenced to 25 years.
His crime? Exposing the horrendous communist government practices of: slaughtering newborns along with forcing abortions on women with problematic pregnancies.
If you'd like more information about the film itself, you can find it at www.oscarscuba.com.
To read a review of the film, you can click here.
Here in the U.S. we have the liberty to freely speak our minds. That is completely intolerable under the current Cuban government. They imprison, beat and torture those who dare to disagree. They do whatever they can to stamp out the fire of liberty and free thinking.
But there is movement in Cuba of political dissidents and it's growing each day. Those of us who are free and believe in human rights would do well to support those who are not free and whose basic human rights get routinely trampled on.
If you have an extra $10, please donate it to support this documentary. It's a small price to pay to further the cause of freedom and human rights.
If you do NOT have an extra $10, please, just get involved. Get the word out. Any way that you can.
There is a flicker of hope. Let us feed the flame.
(cross-posted at MBFCF)
Wow! I'm speechless.
Thank you, Marta and your daughter, for sharing.
Maggie
So doesn't this tourism help the castro regime? I am a bit confused at the absence of the outcry we usually hear on Babalu over Cubans returning to Cuba as tourists. I don't quite understand the inconsistancy and am truly curious.
Don't get me wrong as I have my own position on this matter, but typically we see Cubans get lambasted for going to Cuba at all. So has the popular position changed or is this an exception?
So are we feeding the flame or feeding the regime? A question worth pondering.
Sometimes it's just a case of See it to believe it, pototo. Sometimes it's just a matter of "If I'm never going to get to live in a free Cuba, at least let me see it in person just once, so I can say truly 'I was there.'"
...and I think we all, bloggers and readers alike, agree that we back Cuba the country, and not the cASStro regime, nor any followers of that murderous THUGocracy.
I have not commented in my usual strident way out of courtesy and respect for my colleague Martica and her family. Everyone knows how strongly I feel about Cubans visiting the island and directly and indirectly helping the regime. I will not belabor the point here.
While I will not judge her intentions as I do not know them I will say that the pictures and story do not do justice to the reality that is Cuba. It is no longer beautiful. To look at the sea one must look past the man made disaster that does not appear in the pictures. Quite honestly seeing the pictures followed up with the Biscet appeal struck me much like the overweight woman who goes to McDonalds and orders 4 Big Macs, 2 fries, an apple pie, and oh yes.... a Diet Coke. The Diet Coke does not nullify the food much like the Biscet ad does not justify a trip. Just my 2 cents worth, but I am afraid that the gentlemenly respect is much the reason we are in the mess we are in here in America as well as why Cuba is still in the mess they are in. I love Marta´s recipes and I am sure I would love her family as well if I knew them. So this is not an attack on them personally. I just am fed up with the compromise.
I can't disagree with you, Pototo. We should have said "enough" decades ago...
BTW, Marta, my grandparents requested to be reinterred in Cuba. But not while the Beast is still there.
Hi Pototo,
I've been writing about my trip to Cuba over at http://www.mybigfatcubanfamily.com and realize that this post is lacking some of the explanations that other posts have. I did not go as a tourist. I left from Miami. I went on a family visa. My 96 year old grandmother had asked me to go with her and her older brother (he's 99) so that they could be reunited with their three younger siblings that are still in Cuba. My personal politics stated that I would never go while the Beast is still there, but I decided that family comes first. I find it amazing and wonderful that all 5 of the siblings are still alive and still "with it." For the week we were in Cuba, we stayed at my tio abuelo's house and my abuela and her siblings were thrilled to be together especially since one of the "successes" of the regime was to destroy the family unit. I love that the bonds of love that my abuela and her siblings have for each other were not broken by 50 years of (c)astro.
What you also do not know from reading just this post is that I was able to meet with Cuban dissident bloggers. I met Yoani Sanchez. I did not spend my week working on my tan and drinking fruity umbrella drinks. I saw the real Cuba, but I assure you it is STILL incredibly beautiful. Since I was born here, I knew Cuba only in pictures so I can't tell you if it's as beautiful as it was when my grandparents left, but I can tell you that I found new meaning in songs "Cuba que linda son tus paisajes."
But what I would most want you to understand is that when I left for Cuba, I already felt passionate about people like Biscet, I wept the day Tamayo died, and now that I have been there and FELT the oppression, SEEN the truth about what is happening and actually TALKED to those dissidents at the front lines of the battle I am more passionate than ever about wanting to support them in any way I can.
I certainly hope this helps you to understand my post and me a bit better and I would welcome further any questions you may have.
George,
My abuelo requested the same thing, but my abuela insisted that we take his ashes on this trip so in order to please them both, I only took a little bit this time. The rest will continue waiting.
pototo and George,
I was about to post an explanation, when I just saw that Amy (Kikita) had explained herself. I'm glad. She has developed a passion for the Cuban people on the island that she couldn't have come to in any other way. It makes me happy and proud.
PS. pototo, you would LOVE my family. =D
Besos,
Marta
Marta, like I have told you before, you have done a great job with your kids. If anyone has ever read anything you or Amy has written before, they would know how passionate both of you are about a Free Cuba and I believe Kikita's experience on this trip will only help her become an even more determined person with regards to that freedom.
Kikita,
I appreciate your desire to clarify things although I strongly believe that many were misled by your post who may never read the disclaimer. I was born in Cuba after the Robolution and left shortly after.
My family who died there are buried there and my family that died here are buried here. It is the regime that caused my father to die an early death here and my mother will never live to see a free Cuba. I have seen the sickening sights of the majority of Cuba travellers at MIA so you will see where my indignation comes from. I have seen the giant screen TV's, jewelry, toys (and I am not referring to the children's), etc. All going to Cuba. I have seen the lowlife scum who claim to have left Cuba for political reasons as it was supposedly for their very survival returning with their rented jewelry to party. I do not question those who go to work with the dissidents or to honor the wishes of a relative on their death bed. I do not question the gifts of those who wish to help with basic necessities rather than luxuries. But I also know that the ill placed desires of many who go to Cuba only serve to prop up the regime. I too have relatives, albeit few, in Cuba. Yet I would never consider taking over a TV. Medicines? yes, niceties? No. As I said before I do not judge intentions, but only recognized the very real results of misperceptions created. Thanks for your explanation and sincere desire to clarify things. I do suggest that when you do share Cuba you share the reality of Cuba in pictures as well as they speak many more words than a post at times.
BTW Marta, I am sure I would love the family.
Thank you, Kikita, for sharing the experience. I lived it through your eyes,as I don't remember Cuba much. And I don't think I'll be seeing it again anytime soon.
Pototo,
At your suggestion, I have written a post on "the reality of Cuba" and included lots of pictures.
It is appreciated. Too many people risk too much in order for the real Cuba to be exposed. I appreciate your desire to balance things out. Maybe Babalu can replace your old article with the new. It speaks volumes of what is REALLY going on in utopia.
Thanks again!