CUBAN EXILE How democratic are they?
My life among the exiles
I must state first of all that l grew up among the Cuban-American exiles. I remember my uncle taking me as a child - I was a little older than Elian - to meetings of the Cuban exiles. I recall week after week going to those meetings; not understanding everything that was said but at the same time understanding by the anger and ranting that there was something wrong; this was of course planting in my soul the seeds of hate.
I don't recall much about those early days but I do remember two things: firstly, a small plump, red faced man with a moustache, who gave angry speeches. He was the head of some organization, for he was the only one that I remember speaking at the podium. In the sense of how he shouted, he impressed me a great deal. Little did I know at that time that this was Orlando Masferrer, a ruthless assassin who headed Masferrer's Tigers, a repressive agency under Batista that tortured and murdered many Cubans. Secondly, I recall my uncle taking me to this camp - it probably was in NJ - and a band of men camouflaged in army fatigues shooting off a bazooka. This was probably one of these terrorist military exile groups, Omega 7 or Alpha 66. Was it legal to have a bazooka and shoot it? Not if you are a Cuban exile. If you are an exile, as you'll see later, you can get away with anything, even murder.
As I grew older I became a recalcitrant Cuban-American. I was as hateful as you can get, even to the point of thinking of joining one of these terrorist groups. Something that I am thankful for not ever doing.
My recalcitrant attitude came about from the fact that since childhood I had been given a powerful dose, by the media and those surrounding me, of venom against Cuba, venom which I spat out like a cobra at anyone who dare to say anything positive about the island. For those who differed with me became my enemy, a despicable enemy which with great insolence and aggression I tried to destroy emotionally and spiritually. Notice I didn't say physically, for although a recalcitrant, unlike many of them I never used or dreamt of using violence.
As a reactionary to speak to me about Cuba was to talk about hell; for me Cuba was a dark place devoid of life; to speak to me about Fidel Castro was to talk about the devil. I judged, with very little knowledge of Cuba and it's history ; without knowing who Fidel was, what his thoughts were, without ever reading a single speech I judged him and all those who supported him. After all, with all the misinformation, the lies and the exaggerations, I had been fed over the years I was the perfect recalcitrant, hateful and reactionary.
I was also as anticommunist as you can get, for after all, my uncle was as anticommunist as you can be. He was a McCarthy worshipper; for him anyone and anything anticommunist was good. If the devil was anticommunist he would have worshiped him.
What happened to change my attitude toward Cuba and the Cuban Revolution?
To answer this question I always think of a quote from Abraham Lincoln: "you can fool the people some of the time but you can't fool them all the time." This is exactly what happened, for, for the longest time ever they had me fooled with their lies, exaggerations and their filth about Cuba. They have a lot of people fooled with their propaganda against Cuba. It's so deep the hatred they place in the hearts of people that most of the time it is impossible to have a decent and thoughtful conversation with people on the subject, even with well intentioned and knowledgeable people. The conversation usually turns to my listening to a parrot repeating the same lines about Cuba. When I ask people about their knowledge of Cuba in historic terms, they know very little. I am sympathetic though, as I was once in the same boat.
For me, my awakening, my revelation came when the things that they were telling me conflicted with what I was reading from U.N. reports on health and education in Cuba - at the time I was writing a term paper about conditions in Cuba. This is when I first starting to think about what they were telling me. I figured that if they were lying on this point they could be lying on other things as well.
And this is what the recalcitrant exile relies on: lies, exaggerations and half-truths. I'll never forget speaking on a radio show phone in session about what I saw in my first visit to Cuba since I was a child - 1991; on being questioned by the host I said that I saw a poor nation going through really hard times but at the same time I saw a just society devoid of homeless children and children shinning shoes. A reactionary Cuban-American woman who was debating with me over the radio responded that children were not shinning shoes because there were no shoes in Cuba.
What better example of this than the Elian case. Do you remember, for example the phony video where Elian with a pointing finger defiantly tell his father that he doesn't want to go back to Cuba? This may seem minor to some but to others it shows how low they are willing to go. To use a child, to set him against his father, shows me how far these people are willing to go. Anyone who knows the children of Cuba will tell you that a child specially at this age would never point a finger at his father and speak to him in that authoritative tone; in Cuba children respect their parents. Now if he were an American child....
Because historically they have been resented and repudiated by the Cuban people, they will stop at nothing, to get back at the revolution, Fidel and don't kid yourself, the Cuban people.
Their actions in the Elian case showed many fair minded Americans how the exile's obsessions and rancor make them stoop to the lowest level of decency and morality. And that is why a year after the daring INS rescue of Elian, 74% of the American public support the action.
Another factor that got me thinking about Cuba and the embargo, was when then president Reagan was asked about the embargo. I remember him referring to the embargo on Cuba, it's effect, and stating, "we must toughen it so that they won't have a good educational or health system." To me this seem so arrogant and evil, that I remember at the time thinking of what a son of a bitch he was. To try to get back at a people by punishing them through these two important institution showed what a scum he was. This plus other actions dirty tactics on the part of Washington over the years started me thinking of Washington's policies on Cuba.
It took a long time for me to remove the poison that I had received since a child. The final antidote, the one that made me immune to their hatreds, was my trip to Cuba in 1991. I must say that my trip to Cuba was not very pleasing news to my reactionary friends, for my visit was seen as an act of treachery. They tried to do everything in their power to try to dissuade me from going. They threw all the lies at me: "You will be followed by the secret police", "you will not be allowed to leave", "Why would you want to go there?", "You'll be giving your money to Fidelito", blah, blah, blah.
With a lot of apprehension I managed to go to Cuba and spend some time with family which I never had seen before. No, I did not stay in a hotel. What did I see in Cuba? I saw a just society where everyone is entitled to free health care; a society devoid of homeless children, street children selling flowers and shinning shoes on the corner. I saw a poor nation, a people struggling in the midst of an economic embargo that is really not warranted. But I also saw a proud and educated people, patriotic, proud of their heritage, history and their revolution; something that the Miami exile, with all their rhetoric will never be. Since '91 I've been back many times, including a sabbatical of 6 months visiting schools; I challenge anyone to go to Cuba and to tell me otherwise on what I speak of. That is why I tell people to go there and find out for themselves, what Cuba is really like. Rely on you own judgment, not on the judgment from one side or the other, specially, not from one of these right wing commentator from Fox News or worst still spokespersons from the CANF - persons who had ties to Batista or are the offspring's of Batistianos.
After being in both camps, after seeing both sides of the coin, after reading historical facts from both sides I choose to support the Cuban Revolution. I may not agree totally with certain things and I criticize it from time to time but I'll stay with it because the Revolution to me represents a just cause. That's right. You read it right. The revolution came about to address the terrible conditions that existed at that time. This is not rhetoric; the revolution and it's leaders did concrete things to help the Cuban people. It enacted laws like lowering the rents, making them literate, providing free health and free education; and guaranteeing that everyone gets to eat every day. Now if this is bad then God help humanity.
Even with the extreme hardships the Cuban people are faced with they still have things that many third world countries do not have. I'm not saying that it is a paradise but neither is it the hell hole some would like to have us believe. They have insured many basics that their neighbors do not have: health, education and housing among other things. The Cuban revolution was and still is a just cause, and that is why as I stated before it has my support and the support of the majority of the Cuban people.
I ask you, what kind of democracy is there in Latin America for example, where people have been and still are in many cases murdered for their political beliefs; where there are an estimated 20 million children in Latin America on the streets, facing a future without hope? I tell people that democracy is wonderful; when you see a real one, please, let me know.
One thing I know for sure, even with all their rhetoric, the exiles are not the champions of democracy as they would like everyone to believe, if anything they are everything else but democratic. To me they are totally the opposite of what they preach. The exiles with their long bloody history of terrorism and shameless distortions of the truth as they try to demonize Cuba, the people and it's leaders, specially Fidel Castro, demonstrates that they are ruthless thugs, not worthy of my support, nor the support of anyone who is of good faith, fair minded and decent. To me they represent the dark side of things. A people whose obsessed hatred has made them irrational in their purpose, deeds and actions. That is why neither I nor the majority of the Cuban people support this recalcitrant exile.
To me the exile community does not represent the noble aspirations and desires of the Cuban people. Rather they represent the interests of their old allies and the US. As you will see the power brokers of the exile community who are mostly made up of Batistianos and their offspring, as well as the overwhelming majority of the dissidents in and out of Cuba, use the Cuba issue to receive perks and favors from Washington and as such to me they represent mercenaries.
As I'm glad I was able to break away from these fascist lunatics, I'm also glad that Elian was able to break free of this reactionary scum.