A Cuban Immigrant’s Year to Understand
HAVANA TIMES – A year has passed since I arrived in the United States of America. It feels like it was just yesterday.
I recall the afternoon of my arrival, the initial disorientation, and the entire path I’ve traveled over these twelve months in a foreign land.
Especially the last few months, which have been particularly difficult—facing the risk of deportation, like any immigrant.
I recently applied under the Cuban Adjustment Act, a 1966 law passed by a mostly Democratic Congress and signed by a president of the same party.
I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican. If I were a citizen, I might not even vote, but if I did, I would never vote for a Republican—and much less for someone as unpresentable as the current occupant of the White House.
Thanks to the Democrats, the Hispanic community—especially Cubans—has been able to thrive in this country. One should not be ungrateful.
Here, I’ve been able to see certain nuances of US policy toward Cuba that I never would have understood from the other shore.
If I suspected it before, I can now confirm it: the United States is not truly interested in the Cuba issue. It all comes down to electoral politics.
Politicians play with the exile community, which is mostly based in Florida, to secure votes, knowing that this state is one of the most crucial in deciding a president.
But above all, during this year, I’ve come to understand that some of those who claim to be part of the exile are just as despicable as those who oppress the Cuban people. They manipulate the cause of Cuban freedom to line their pockets. They play at being the opposition from behind a computer and a YouTube channel, purely for profit. They demand from their compatriots on the island what they themselves never did and would never dare to do.
I respect the exiles who survived assassinations and prison, those who risked everything for the ideal of a free and democratic Cuba, as well as those who stand up to the dictatorship from within the island. But these opportunists—never.
What an interesting perspective! A recent arrival to the US from Cuba who, so far, seems to not have not succumbed to the Coca-Cola. (Cubans on the island complain about Cubans who arrive in Miami and seem to immediately forget about where they came from, sarcastically because they drank Coca-Cola.) I know a few Cubans like that. What does surprise me about the writer of this post is his comment that he might not vote at all. Really? After a lifetime of being forced to vote in a single party system, when finally the opportunity presented itself to vote in a real election with real choices? I would be first in line! Another thing, I am always telling my Cuban family and friends in Cuba how disinterested Americans are in the situation in Cuba. Between the daily newspaper, Granma and the evening news show Mesa Redonda, the US is ever-present in Cuban life. I hope Pedro continues to contribute to the blog.
I totally agree with the observations made by Pedro Pablo Morejon’s diary. These politicians who play into the anticommunist rhetoric are doing it for their own political advancement. Why have they remained silent when Melania Trump’s father was allowed to enter the United States,and additionally was permitted to become a United States citizen? One of the questions for disqualification is precisely having been a member of the Communist Party.
I was a child when my parents left Cuba. My father was advised to leave any way he could until things settled in our homeland. It was supposed to have been a temporary situation.
The Cubans forget that all the advantages they have received were through the Democrats. They have fallen for the “radical left” propaganda espoused by the Republicans who are merely manipulating them for a vote. Is having social programs to assist those who are less fortunate a crime, or is it society’s responsibility to impart benefits so that we can ALL live better lives?
I have come to believe that those Scandinavian countries are producing societies with less crime and more personal satisfaction than what we are now witnessing in the United States. If you are addicted to drugs it is better for the government to provide assistance than a cartel that is contributing to crime? When you realize that you must go to a center for your fix, then it gradually becomes a task and a drudgery that you must perform. These centers could also be manned by professionals that can impart assistance in overcoming these habits.
I believe that the United States benefitted from the situation in Cuba. Havana was a city with more theaters than Paris or New York. Its cabarets had entertainment from world class artists. No body had any interests in arid Las Vegas, “La Habana”, offered something grander. It is no wonder the Shah of Iran took his beautiful wife, Soraya to Havana. He had class, knowledge and wanted his wife to experience the best.