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MARIO J. TORRES
Cheated and beaten
The normal obstacles that arise in
the huge northern country for all Cuban newcomers, and such difficulties can
be found everywhere in the world, to a great extent deeply affect a large
group of immigrants from the island, since most of them normally arrive with
a great "thirst of revenge" for the bad life led in the island and with the
desire of a payback or compensation for a better one in the new country,
seeing the awful time they had throughout all these years, with spontaneous
illusions of great well-being and progress, looking for a promised perfect
land to occupy a position in a higher social class and occasionally with the
crazy thought as if they were coming for a luxury vacation. These may be
logical reactions after being in prison, cross the sea at risk of losing
their lives or undergoing misery, political pressures and repression. Also,
most of these ideas are partly influenced by the behavior of those already
here, who only inform the good side and that for several reasons fail to
notify their relatives on the real obstacles that do exist and on the other
hand, this way of thinking reflects normal defense reactions before the
suffering, scarcity and repression undergone, which makes these people
overrate the values of exile, in this case those of the U.S.A. But, as a
general rule for many, fortunately not for everyone, all these illusions
later become forced hopes when seeing the reality of life and among other
things that dollars do not fall from trees and that no society is perfect.
Factors such as taxes, unsatisfactory health insurance plans or their total
lack, racial discrimination, deficiencies in the educational system,
excessive number of working hours in tough, hard or bad jobs ( which is not
seen in communist countries in which workers pretend they work and the state
pretends it pays them for it), low salaries, high prices, lack of social
relations, problems with adaptation and adjustment to the new environment, a
different language, changes of climate, new culture along with new habits,
traditions, values, foods with different taste and different culinary
procedures, economic deceit with the tricky use of the word "free", the
tendency to a compulsory consumption and the incorrect use of credit cards
that may lead to a sad bankruptcy due to a bad budget management and little
knowledge on the features of the country, the accumulation of bills that
create an agonic economic suffocation and the beginning of a sensation of
nostalgia towards the homeland, adding the huge differences between
communism and a strong fast-pace capitalism that none of them experienced in
their lives in the island ( even older people who lived in Cuba before 1959
who witnessed a "softer" or "slower" kind of capitalism, along with the
lower prices of those times, had a great shock when thinking they would face
a similar kind of system in the longed for American dream) little by little
break that ideal image and bring about many reactions to this new kind of
life, which may vary according to each individual and to their degree of
success or failure in the new land, but all of them always guided by a
strong sensation of confusion and uncertainty. It is recommendable to point
out this is a general description that cannot be applied to all Cuban
families in exile because apart from the fact that many have attained great
success in their new lives, this phenomenon also depends on other factors
like the kind of city where the family will settle down and its geographical
situation which may determine factors such as climate, language as well as
to the proximity or not to the Cuban culture, the social mark of an alien
status or of a minor or major degree of discrimination, also including other
types of possibilities that are influenced by the existing surrounding
environment or simply by the luck destiny may have for each one. All this
brings about diverse and interesting reactions in every immigrant.
Some may recommence to love things they had despised before in the island
because the idea of migration blinded their eyes and made them not only
condemn the regime but also the very land and its national symbols, or on
the other hand many may start to worship a special Cuba made of nostalgia
but not the real one, developing a sense of patriotism not felt before, but
still wishing the collapse of the dictator and knowing the step they took
was necessary. Others may regret having left the country or may fall in the
contradiction or doubt if they really did the right thing in having traveled
to the US, always measuring the do's and don't's of the new society in a
comparison scale. A larger group will take things more patiently; they will
slowly assimilate changes and they would eventually even become American
citizens, deciding to lead their lives as normal as possible without the
tendency of Cuba in their minds and are members of the new society of
Cuban-Americans. It cannot be denied that many have achieved success in a
land full of opportunities.
Meanwhile, others suffer in silence, accept the mandatory banishment,
struggle against the frustration and depression all this implies and yearn
for the soon collapse of the regime in the island to then be able to return
whereas a small amount of counted cases have decided to go back without
minding possible consequences, due to a total lack of adaptation, for not
being able to put up with solitude or for missing what they left in Cuba.
A bunch of these may also become strange theoretical pseudo-communists in
exile and they will ungratefully criticize the cracks of the American system
without attempting to condemn Castro and his system any more but making
positive observations about it, forgetting how much they were whipped by it.
Some others strive to keep themselves "clean" even out of the punishment
hole with the purpose of, either protecting their families in Cuba or to
guarantee their yearly visit trips to the island to see those relatives, not
willing to run any risk, with the same style of double moral they practiced
in Cuba before coming. This group can get to be more theoretically
"communist" here in easy land and with better living conditions than when
they were there . There are also contradictions between those who support
the embargo not sending the money or not traveling to Cuba and the great
majority who does. There exist immigrants who are typically "economic" who
traveled fleeing from the terrible economical situation of the island and
who are sometimes characterized for being politically neutral, separate
economy from politics and do not have political ideals since they can praise
a system today and criticize it tomorrow, falling in the WANT-BUT-NOT WANT
game or in the DO-WANT-BUT-WISH-SOMEONE ELSE-DID IT syndrome.
All of these diverse tendencies and contradictions as well as divisions,
ambitions, competition, criticism, antagonism, envy, jealousy and lack of
leadership among many of the groups that struggle for the liberty of the
island bring about a lack of unity and the absence of a unique leader in a
there-is-no-prophet-in-his-own-land style; which weakens exile and
strengthens the tyrant, who very well knows all this is taking place and
surely takes great advantage of it.
To make matters worse, this nationality, destroyed, frustrated, denigrated,
starving, separated, deceived, traumatized, tortured and decimated by the
Caribbean tyrant has to put up with nationals from other countries, who,
believing the misleading and deceiving propaganda from the monster and in
spite of being totally unaware of the incredible miseries and sufferings the
island inhabitants are have been undergoing through decades, boldly dare to
judge them, condemn them and criticize them as if punishment were not
already enough. Besides, possible saviors, like the American government,
ignore the island and regard it as insignificant.
Cubans have unjustly been marked by Castro in the world as either raftmen,
trouble makers, inferior, poor, miserable, nomadic or coward people in such
a way that being Cuban has become nowadays a curse until justice and destiny
make it another way but what is true is that the US is not the lost paradise
so highly overrated by Cubans with exaggerated anxiety; on the contrary, we
are all, for many reasons, the lost generation; another reason to say:
Thanks Fidel.
MARIO J TORRES MARCH 2004
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