Entradas
The Record
STAFF WRITER
It was 50 years ago today that the United States severed diplomatic ties with Cuba, shutting down all efforts at diplomacy and prompting hundreds of thousands to flee the island, seeking exile in communities from Florida to New Jersey.
Five decades later, in North Jersey — home to the second-largest population of Cuban-Americans in the U.S. — reflections on Cuba remain complicated, often mired in feelings of nostalgia for a homeland that no longer exists and bitterness over loved ones left behind.
Olga Romero of River Edge was 23 in 1961, when she left Cuba with an American visa, leaving behind friends and relatives for a new life in the U.S.
"After the revolution, they started killing everybody, and they made it clear that you are either with them or you are against them, so I left," Romero said Friday.
Early on, there was hope that Castro’s regime would topple, but Romero said she has grown frustrated by the lack of change on the island.
"I don’t see any change in the future in Cuba, because those people are still in power and they want to have the power no matter what," she said.
Clara Nibot, a Cuban-American activist and president of the Bergen County Hispanic Republican Club, arrived Jan. 20, 1961, on a Pan Am American flight traveling to the U.S. as a tourist, and never returned. Her father, a doctor, was not allowed to leave Cuba. She never saw him again.
Nibot, who lives in Bergenfield, says lifting restrictions that prohibited Cuban-Americans from visiting their country was a mistake.
"People go back and forth now to see their relatives, sometimes they bring them back for medical treatment here … but there are still human rights violations and people are being put in jail and persecuted because they believe in free speech," Nibot said.
"No one is holding him [Castro] accountable."
Carlos Eire, a Yale University professor and author of the National Book Award-winning memoir, "Waiting for Snow in Havana," was airlifted to the U.S. at age 11 under Operation Pedro Pan. In a CNBC documentary "Escape from Havana," broadcast last week, he said he does not understand the pull to go back under the current leadership.
"My being there legitimizes the regime," he told a reporter. "It makes it seem normal. It is not normal. It’s an aberration, it’s a tumor, it’s a festering, pus-filled tumor on Earth."
Nibot, Romero and Eire are part of a strong contingent of Cuban-Americans who immigrated in the 1960s and have vowed never to return to Cuba under a communist regime.
But as Cuban exiles grow older, the gap grows wider between a generation that remembers its homeland before the 1959 revolution and one that does not.
Danny Marrero, 31, who owns Pan Con Todos Restaurant — better known as Mi Tierra — in Union City, was born in New Jersey, but grew up hearing stories of Havana in the "fabulous ’50s," when his father worked at a popular casino.
These days, his restaurant is a throwback to that era, with its vintage Cuba travel posters, palm trees and big band music blaring from the speakers.
"There are those, like my father, who saw Cuba in the glory days, but just because it’s not what it used to be doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go back," said Marrero, who has visited three times in the last three years, via the Dominican Republic.
Marrero is hopeful that travel restrictions will be lifted, so Americans can visit Cuba more freely.
While some secured visas and left on their own accord, others escaped under harrowing circumstances, braving the perilous journey by boat across the Straits of Florida and reaching U.S. shores with little more than the clothes on their backs. Between 1960 and 1962, a mass exodus of more than 14,000 unaccompanied minors were airlifted to Miami under Operation Pedro Pan, after parents decided their children were better off alone and free in a foreign land, than oppressed under Fidel Castro’s regime.
Five decades later, in North Jersey — home to the second-largest population of Cuban-Americans in the U.S. — reflections on Cuba remain complicated, often mired in feelings of nostalgia for a homeland that no longer exists and bitterness over loved ones left behind.
Olga Romero of River Edge was 23 in 1961, when she left Cuba with an American visa, leaving behind friends and relatives for a new life in the U.S.
"After the revolution, they started killing everybody, and they made it clear that you are either with them or you are against them, so I left," Romero said Friday.
Early on, there was hope that Castro’s regime would topple, but Romero said she has grown frustrated by the lack of change on the island.
"I don’t see any change in the future in Cuba, because those people are still in power and they want to have the power no matter what," she said.
Clara Nibot, a Cuban-American activist and president of the Bergen County Hispanic Republican Club, arrived Jan. 20, 1961, on a Pan Am American flight traveling to the U.S. as a tourist, and never returned. Her father, a doctor, was not allowed to leave Cuba. She never saw him again.
Nibot, who lives in Bergenfield, says lifting restrictions that prohibited Cuban-Americans from visiting their country was a mistake.
"People go back and forth now to see their relatives, sometimes they bring them back for medical treatment here … but there are still human rights violations and people are being put in jail and persecuted because they believe in free speech," Nibot said.
"No one is holding him [Castro] accountable."
Gap widening
Carlos Eire, a Yale University professor and author of the National Book Award-winning memoir, "Waiting for Snow in Havana," was airlifted to the U.S. at age 11 under Operation Pedro Pan. In a CNBC documentary "Escape from Havana," broadcast last week, he said he does not understand the pull to go back under the current leadership.
"My being there legitimizes the regime," he told a reporter. "It makes it seem normal. It is not normal. It’s an aberration, it’s a tumor, it’s a festering, pus-filled tumor on Earth."
Nibot, Romero and Eire are part of a strong contingent of Cuban-Americans who immigrated in the 1960s and have vowed never to return to Cuba under a communist regime.
But as Cuban exiles grow older, the gap grows wider between a generation that remembers its homeland before the 1959 revolution and one that does not.
Danny Marrero, 31, who owns Pan Con Todos Restaurant — better known as Mi Tierra — in Union City, was born in New Jersey, but grew up hearing stories of Havana in the "fabulous ’50s," when his father worked at a popular casino.
These days, his restaurant is a throwback to that era, with its vintage Cuba travel posters, palm trees and big band music blaring from the speakers.
"There are those, like my father, who saw Cuba in the glory days, but just because it’s not what it used to be doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go back," said Marrero, who has visited three times in the last three years, via the Dominican Republic.
Marrero is hopeful that travel restrictions will be lifted, so Americans can visit Cuba more freely.
"I have family there and it’s not their fault that things are the way they are. … I don’t think anybody should be telling me not to go to Cuba and help my family there," said Marrero, who has also hosted Cuban musicians visiting North Jersey.
A few years ago, he finally persuaded his 72-year-old father, Argelio, a retired accountant who spent two years as a political prisoner in Cuba before leaving in 1961, to return to his homeland for a visit.
"My father had some bad memories there, so he didn’t ever want to go back, but we convinced him, and he loved it … it was so emotional for him," he said.
Marrero, who is planning on returning to Cuba again soon, wants to introduce Americans to current Cuban music. He says he prefers to focus on the positive aspects of Cuba: the welcoming culture, the good food and thousands of acres of pristine wildlife. He also thinks it’s important to maintain contact with his relatives to open their minds to another way of thinking.
"He [Castro] isolated a whole island from the world and brainwashed them with his gibberish, so the more tourists, especially Americans, that go there, the better," Marrero said.
But 23-year-old Eva Ramirez, a waitress at the Latin American Restaurant in Union City — who escaped Cuba two and a half years ago — said people living in Cuba are educated and fully aware of the oppressive nature of the regime.
"Everybody, everybody wants to leave," Ramirez said.
"Nobody wants to stay, because we can’t have the freedom you have here, families have to live on $10 a month, and things are not changing, so people are sick of it."
Ramirez, who is studying at Hudson County Community College and wants to become a nurse someday, said she is happy travel restrictions for Cuban-Americans were eased a few years ago. She returned for a month over the summer to see her family and had no trouble arriving or leaving, she said.
"I want to bring my family here little by little, but it takes time, and in the meantime, I want to be able to see them. I miss them," she said.
For Romero of River Edge, Ramirez’s story is confirmation that nothing in Cuba has changed since she left in 1961.
"It is a very sad story, because it is the destruction of a country and the destruction of a culture," she said.
"Can you imagine 53 years of the same? Fifty-three years of enslaving the people."
E-mail: fabiano@northjersey.com
Advocating return
A few years ago, he finally persuaded his 72-year-old father, Argelio, a retired accountant who spent two years as a political prisoner in Cuba before leaving in 1961, to return to his homeland for a visit.
"My father had some bad memories there, so he didn’t ever want to go back, but we convinced him, and he loved it … it was so emotional for him," he said.
Marrero, who is planning on returning to Cuba again soon, wants to introduce Americans to current Cuban music. He says he prefers to focus on the positive aspects of Cuba: the welcoming culture, the good food and thousands of acres of pristine wildlife. He also thinks it’s important to maintain contact with his relatives to open their minds to another way of thinking.
"He [Castro] isolated a whole island from the world and brainwashed them with his gibberish, so the more tourists, especially Americans, that go there, the better," Marrero said.
But 23-year-old Eva Ramirez, a waitress at the Latin American Restaurant in Union City — who escaped Cuba two and a half years ago — said people living in Cuba are educated and fully aware of the oppressive nature of the regime.
"Everybody, everybody wants to leave," Ramirez said.
"Nobody wants to stay, because we can’t have the freedom you have here, families have to live on $10 a month, and things are not changing, so people are sick of it."
Ramirez, who is studying at Hudson County Community College and wants to become a nurse someday, said she is happy travel restrictions for Cuban-Americans were eased a few years ago. She returned for a month over the summer to see her family and had no trouble arriving or leaving, she said.
"I want to bring my family here little by little, but it takes time, and in the meantime, I want to be able to see them. I miss them," she said.
For Romero of River Edge, Ramirez’s story is confirmation that nothing in Cuba has changed since she left in 1961.
"It is a very sad story, because it is the destruction of a country and the destruction of a culture," she said.
"Can you imagine 53 years of the same? Fifty-three years of enslaving the people."
E-mail: fabiano@northjersey.com
Enviado porRoberto Bustamante
Maclovia Perez
801-833-2793
Coordinadora Red de Peruanos en Utah*USA*
E-mail:redperuenutah@gmail.com
http://redperuenutah.blogspot.com/
Corresponsal Red Democratica del Peru
Maclovia Perez
801-833-2793
Coordinadora Red de Peruanos en Utah*USA*
E-mail:redperuenutah@gmail.com
http://redperuenutah.blogspot.com/
Corresponsal Red Democratica del Peru
