Not a real Cuban?

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Claudia from Claudia4Libertad has a great post today regarding a letter she received from a Cuban-American who did not have the good fortune of being surrounded with other Cuban-Americans while growing up in the US. She has doubts as to whether she can consider herself a “real Cuban.”
As someone who was born in the US from Cuban parents, I strongly believe that no matter where I would have been born, either in the US or Papau New Guinea for that matter, I would still be a Cuban. Ana, the doubtful Cuban-American, is a real Cuban and nothing can take that away from her. The Cubania is in your blood, your genes, your spirit, and your core essence.
Read the touching letter of this REAL CUBAN HERE.

19 thoughts on “Not a real Cuban?”

  1. Alberto yo siempre pense que uno es ” real” del pais que nace. O sea tu nacistes en Cuba eres cubano, nacistes en Zimbawe eres Zimbawero, en Zuiza eres Suizo. No importa si te fuistes de ese pais horas despues de haber nacido. Eres 100% del lugar que te ve nacer y punto.
    Ahora uno puede llevar otros sentimientos afectivoa hacia los paises de origenes de los padres de uno que pueden ser diferentes. Por ejemplo una persona que nace en Estados Unidos es real American pero su padre puede ser de Francia y su madre de España y esta persona puede decir que se siente frances o español pero en realidad eso es un sentimiento muy bello . La realidad es que esa persona es 100 americano y punto.
    Yo me alegro que muchos no nacidos en Cuba sientan por nuestra causay se sientan cubanos todos los que ellos quieran decir , nadie se lo impide., pero tratar de ser mas cubano del que nace y vive alli toda su vida creo que es una falta de respeto a si mismo..
    Habria que preguntarle al puertorriqueño Mike Lowell como se siente..
    Got it

  2. Alberto: Per the Cuban Constitution of 1940, if your parents are Cuban born, so are you (after a few formalities are resolved). See Title II Article 12,#2&3. I see the day when that constitution will be the law of the land.

  3. Abajofidel:
    Con todo respeto, no estoy de acuerdo con su afirmacion que uno solamente puede ser “real” del pai­s en donde nacio. Si eso fuera el caso, de donde fuera “real” un bebe nacido en alta mar abordo un barco en aguas internacionales? Que pasa con un bebe nacido en lo que conocemos hoy como Israel? Hay una cultura que considera esa tierra palestina y otra que dice que es israelita. Que nacionalidad sale el bebe entonces? Naturalmente, si es judi­o, seria israelita, y si es musulman, seria palestino. Ahi­ ves como el patrimonio de uno tiene que ver mucho con la manera en que uno se identifica.
    Yo entiendo que es muy conveniente tener una ley simple para poder asignarle a una persona su nacionalidad, pero la verdad es que no es tan facil hacerlo. Mis padres vinieron ha este pai­s porque no tuvieron remedio. Ellos no querian irse de Cuba, pero las situaciones ahi no les dieron otra opcion. Asi­ que la culpa no es mi­a, ni de mis padres, que yo fisicamente naci­ en Miami. La culpa la tiene fidel. Y te voy a decir que yo nunca dejare que un tirano decida por mi­ si yo puedo ser cubano o no.
    Yo se que usted nacio en Cuba, pero yo no me considero menos cubano que usted, ni usted mas cubano que yo. Igual que yo no me considero mas americano que usted, ni usted menos americano que yo. La verdad es que la unica razon que yo no naci­ en Cuba y usted no sigue viviendo en Cuba, es por el tirano que le quito el lugar de nacimiento suyo, y me nego a mi un primer aliento de aire cubano cuando naci.
    Saca fidel de la ecuacion, y somos iguales. Cubanos.
    Alberto

  5. Alberto usted se identifica como usted crea. Creo que eso es una decision personal. Lo del papel es otra cosa. Y eso usted no lo podra cambiar jamas
    Si quiere tener doble nacionalidad tambien es factible , muchos lo hacen. Algunos toman la del padre y otros de la madre.
    Creo que no sentirse orgulloso del pais que lo vio nacer deja mucho que decir

  6. Abajofidel,
    Yo creo que usted a malentendido a Alberto. Yo soy igual que el, hija de padres Cubano y me siento Cubana, pero eso no quita que me sienta o no orgulloza del pais donde naci en mi caso, como el de Alberto fue en los EEUU. Naci en Nueva Yok, y creci en Miami. Por el simple hecho de haber nacido en Nueva York ahora soy Newyorkina aunque no se donde queda MOMA? Conozco aquellos que nacieron en Cuba y no hablan un bledo de Español, otros que dicen que naciron en España por no admitir que fue en Cuba.
    Creo que eso es algo muy personal y si alguien le dice a usted, “Soy Cubano porque me siento Cubano, debe de ser respetado, haya nacido en la Luna o en Matanzas.
    Henry Gomez tambien es nacido aqui y mira todo el tiempo que le dedica a la cause NUESTRA, si no se sintiera Cubano no lo hiciera, sinembargo se que no deja de estar orgullozo de ser Americano.
    Talvez usted no lo entienda porque fue de adulto para Puerto Rico, pero nosotros que crecimos con doble indocincracia, que teniamos que navegar entre dos mundos cuando eramos pequeños, sin perder el paso, entendemos bien bien lo que es esol.
    Un saludos cordial,

  7. Abajofidel:
    Just to show you how American I can be, I will respond to you in english.
    Never have I said, nor implied in any way, shape, or form, that I am not proud and I am not grateful to have been born in the US. I fail to see how you interpret my pride and identification with my Cuban heritage, as disdain for America.
    If you want to make your own little club and only accept those who can prove their birth in Cuba, then go ahead. If you want to consider yourself more Cuban than I, then go ahead. The truth is that fidel cannot steal my identity and heritage, and neither can you.
    Alberto

  8. Muy interesante este tema. Yo tambien soy de esos que nacio en EE.UU. de padres cubanos. Estoy de acuerdo con Lori y Alberto que no importa donde uno nazca, uno se puede sentir facilmente americano y cubano a la vez.
    Ahora, si creo que los que nacimos aqui de padres cubanos somos muy diferentes de los que nacieron, crecieron y viven en Cuba/Puerto Rico..etc. Somos MAS americanos, y eso no lo veo nada de malo. De hecho, me siento muy dichoso de identificarme como un ciudadano del mejor pais del mundo. Si, me siento cubano, pero cubano de los viejos, porque honestamente el que nacio y crecio en Miami, por tanto arroz con frijoles que comeremos, somos muy diferente de los que recientemente llegaron o todavia estan alla.
    OK, I don’t know how this thread became all Spanish, but for respect to those who don’t read Spanish, what I wrote above was that I agree with Lori and Alberto that one can feel both American and Cuban at the same time, regardless of place of birth.
    However, there’s no denying that those of us born in the USA of Cuban parents are undoubtedly different than those who have recently arrived or still live in Cuba. In other words, we’re more American. The differences are striking. That’s absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, I am extremely proud to be a citizen of the greatest country on Earth, and I wouldn’t trade it for any other citizenship (including Cuba, BTW). The love I feel for Cuba is a love borne of respect for my family’s traditions, values and upbringing. However, it is something that for me is based more on the past, not the present. Let’s face it, despite how much arroz con frijoles we eat, we’re of a different generation, a different upbringing, if I dare to say so myself.
    The present, and the future for me and most Cuban-Americans (whether they want to admit it or not), is the US of A. In the end, it’s perfectly OK and normal to feel love for BOTH countries, and does not diminish one bit how you should feel about either or both.

  10. Lori & Robert:
    Sometimes I forget that it is difficult for some people to fully comprehend what people like us–born in the US from Cuban parents–have lived through. I am sure you and Lori can relate to that strange and wonderful childhood we all experienced where we had the best of both worlds: Cuban culture and food and American culture and food.
    We learned to cuss in spanish as well as english and even made up some cuss words that sounded good in both languages. We learned to love America from the first day we were taught the pledge of allegiance, and we remember the first time someone who didn’t consider us “American,” told us so. All in all, it’s an experience that is difficult to imagine for those that emigrated in adulthood.
    The sad part here is that we’re all supposed to be on the same team, but you still get some people that want to exclude others. What can you do?
    I just keep moving forward.
    Alberto

  11. Very true Alberto. The only time I ever felt ashamed of the USA and of being American was during the Elian fiasco, and that was only because a certain segment of the non-Cuban population felt the opportunity to lash out at Cubans for making them feel frustrated and “left-out” in their own country all these years. A feeling, as true as it may feel to those individuals, only speaks for them and not for the American-born kids of Cuban parents who grew up feeling the tugging coming from both sides.

  12. please remember how the Miami Cubans treated the Marielitos..We were all called delincuentes..by many in Miami..Is is a fact es la verdad. El hecho que fidel haya vaciado las carceles no implica que todos los que salimos por esa via eramos delincuentes. Aun siendo cubanos fuimos rechazados por las ordas anteriores. They looked down upon us. Probably to this date. Lo que pasa es que de eso NADIE QUIERE HABLAR.

  13. You’re right Enrique, just as the Marielitos looked down on those who came after. It’s one of those human traits none of us can deny that we have.
    Still, I don’t think anyone here means to say that the later generation of Cubans is of a lower class, just different in subtle and not so subtle ways.

  14. I am not offering you an excuse, nor do I justify the treatment many people from Mariel got undeservedly, but just like you don’t want your whole group painted with one brush, don’t paint my group with the same broad brush. Like Robert said, each new group makes fun of the next. And the Cubans from Tampa that came in the 1800’s laugh and look down on all of us.

  15. that is a problem that we have ” too many groups”
    5 decades of dictatorship will do that to you
    Por eso es que no existe un solo true lider en el exilio ni dentro de Cuba, fidel castro se encargo que eso no ocurriese jamas y la pego el muy sinverguezon.

  16. Alberto, I belong to the same club you do. I was born in New York to Cuban parents. The first thing they did was to register me at the Cuban consulate. At age 18, I could have opted for either citizenship, under the old rules.
    It is a sad thing that we cannot come together as people who care very much about Cuba. Instead, our discussion remind me of the New Orleans thing of octroons and quadroons. It makes about as much sense.

  17. Antes que nada, quiero agradecerle a Alberto por incluir la carta que yo recibí de la señora de Virginia. Sabí que ella recibiría apoyo desde la comunidad cubana americana ya que donde vive ella, no existe tal comunidad. Pero aunque haya apoyo de muchas personas, esto se ha convertido en una discusión de “Quién es más cubano?” No lo entiendo.
    Does anyone really have to prove who is more Cuban? Isn’t everyone who has lived, either through their own tragedy or that of their parents, or grandparents, a real Cuban? Does a birth certificate stating that a person is from Cuba serve to trivialize the agony that the child of someone who lost everything to the tyrant suffers?
    I don’t understand why a distinction is even made. All the different groups of exiles all share the same terrible circumstances: some first-hand because they lived it, and some first-hand because they saw it in Cuba, and some because their parents lived it and what affects your family affects you as well. Your blood is Cuban. Your heart is Cuban. Your struggle is and always will be Cuban. Nobody can diminish that and nobody can take away your “cubanía” or your orgullo unless you let them.
    Thank you to everyone who helped respond in a positive way to Ana, I am sure she feels better and not so alone.
    Claudia

  19. I visit these blogs regularly and my ears perk up whenever “Cuba” is mentioned. There is a longing for what could have been, but was not.
    I was born in Cuba but left with my parents when I was 5 in 1960 to live in Miami.
    When I lived in Miami in the early sixties I was “The Cuban” kid.
    When I lived in Venezuela for a few years in the sixties and early seventies I was “El Cubanito.”
    When I returned to Miami in the early seventies I was again “The Cuban” for a few years. But in Miami, that was not a bad thing.
    As time went by and my personal and professional circle expanded, fewer and fewer thought of me as “The Cuban.”
    Of course, I knew I was born in Cuba, but over time as my kids were born, I felt more and more a part of the American melting pot.
    For years I traveled extensively yet only felt safe, at home, in the USA. I was always happy to return.
    Someday I will visit Cuba, only when the sumo hijo e puta and his gang of thieves have hung for their crimes of course (my Mom will kill me otherwise).
    And when that day comes, they will call me “El Gringo.” Not everyone, not to my face, but they will.
    And I will return home. To my kids and grandkids. Where I belong … most.

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