Penned by Alina K. A.

A few days ago, I sat down to talk with José Aguilera, a Cuban immigrant and U.S. citizen. We spoke about his identity as a Cuban American, the passing of Fidel Castro and the failed Revolution. This is what he had to say.

José, let me begin by asking you how you identify yourself as a Cuban immigrant and an American.

I identify myself as an individual who is privileged to have lived in different parts of the world, having lived in Cuba and the United States. I feel privileged to represent Cubanism.

That’s an interesting term: Cubanism. What does it mean to you?

I guess I sort of discovered that Americans label everything outside of the norm. To me, Cubanism, is just a Cuban alien who is living his life with different customs while growing up and assimilating new customs. I guess that’s when I first discovered Cubanism. I am who I was born to be, a Cuban. I’m Cuban but also more. It isn’t really a thing for me; Cubanism is a label that has been given to me.

Right, labels tend to limit people. Lets shift gears. Recently, a couple of days ago, we found out that the Revolutionary leader Fidel Castro had passed away. What were your initial emotions when you found out the news?

My initial reaction was thinking of my grandma. That was my reaction because she would tell me stories about when she was younger, and how she would go out into the jungle to teach students out there, who didn’t have the access to schools. She was part of the Revolutionary Movement like Fidel Castro. So I thought about her and how she was a great person and had passed away, and I’m not sure how that relates to Fidel Castro… I guess she loved him and then she felt betrayed by the Revolution so she hated him too. She loved him when she was young and hated him when she was old.

Do you think that sense of betrayal is common among Cuban people?

I do think that sense of betrayal is common. When you are passionate about something and it doesn’t necessarily go the way you want it to go, if it goes differently, then you become hurt. So she was passionate about the Revolution. She thought that it would change things; break ties from the USA who were suppressing the Cuban people at the time; would change the countries wealth, but it ended up impoverishing them.

What do you remember as being some of your first memories of Fidel and hearing about this person?

The first time I felt the Revolution, I think was on Independence Day, my parents took me out to a rally. I haven’t celebrated Cuban Independence in a while so I couldn’t tell you when it is. But we went to this rally, and there were so many people, people everywhere, people marching — it felt surreal that there were all of these people organized going to one place and they were all happy about being Cubans. That was pretty cool.

I knew that Fidel was the leader of Cuba, but his figure didn’t effect me as much on the island as it did after I left the island. The stigma that people have towards Fidel Castro trails with the people who leave the island.

So what’s the difference between how you viewed him before you left and how you viewed him after you left?

After I left, I encountered a lot of people who were unhappy with the things that he did to the people of Cuba, and they had good reasons to. Families were separated, good people’s money was taken away. They were very unhappy with him. But while I was on the island I felt like the Revolution was taking me to the right place, I didn’t have a problem with it. I felt like I was growing up, I was happy, maybe I didn’t have everything Americans had, but I had my family and that was what was important for me. I didn’t need more.

 So why leave?

Well, my parents wanted to leave because they had traveled outside of the island. They had been to Russia, which was also communist but they still had trade with China and other countries. They knew what TV’s were, cable, metropolitan cities with transportation that works. They had lived it and they had seen that the Revolution wasn’t taking them anywhere and wasn’t progressing. The Revolution was just getting them stuck. It started out with good ideals and it ended badly for the poor people.

 But wasn’t everyone equally poor? Or do you mean before the Revolution.

There were people who were wealthy and they got kicked off the island and their possessions were taken. They became enemy of the state. This is your milk factory? No, you can’t have your milk factory it now belongs to the nation.

 So everything was seized by the government?

Yes, all property became government property.

There was no personal property?

No, there was no personal property.

So you can’t own a lamp?

It can be your lamp, you can have it at your house, but just know that if the country needs it you need to give it up.

 So would you say then everyone is equal in their poverty?

 On paper everyone is equal but in reality not everyone isn’t equal. Because people who make the trades are left with the better parts and the crappy parts are left to people they don’t know.

So human nature and a person’s ability to seek initiative and take action still plays a part?

Yes. They have a saying in Cuba that says, “On the road to good, you can make a lot of evils,” and I think that is a representation of what Cuba is. Cuba was on a road to good to save the Cuban people, but on the way it couldn’t accomplish what it set out to do.

So now that Fidel is out of the picture what do you think it means for Cuba and for Cuban people?

 I think with Fidel out of the picture it just means that there’s a wake up call for the Cuban people. It’s telling them that 50 years isn’t good enough to shift the country in the right direction. We need a new direction. We can’t stay going in the same direction that we have been because it’s been 50 years… And he’s dead. He said he wanted to change the country and now he’s dead. A lot of dreams are shattered. The Cuban people are probably waking up, saying we’re in hell. And that’s why my parents came over here; because they were waking up saying they were in hell they needed a way out somehow.

At the same time, though, there was this material hell, but you said the young you, the innocent you, was happy, because you had your family and you had nice atmosphere. So was it really hell?

I think to the body, it is a blissful living experience. But to the mind it’s very repressive living.

Do you remember ever being told, you can’t do this or you can’t have this and have it be because of the politics in Cuba?

No, I don’t remember that. I grew up reciting poems from national heroes, it never occurred to me to be angry. I was always proud of the history I was learning. I didn’t encounter negativity towards the Revolution.

 When you came here did you find that what you learned there, some of it, wasn’t true? Or do you feel like you were being taught the truth.

I felt like I was being taught on different subjects. Like math was the same, but language was different. I learned Cuban history not American history. Same subjects but different matter.

 But you don’t think that some of the things that you were taught got challenged?

No, I don’t think Cuban education is inferior. I think we just learned about our surroundings. We didn’t have high tech so we didn’t learn about it but we would learn about the human body.

 But do you feel like certain information was purposefully suppressed or left out or that false information was taught to you?

No, Cuba doesn’t negate the world’s history and translate it into Cuban power like they do here in America. Cuba sends out more missionaries than any other country in the world, to help people. We are more focused on the inside than the outside.

Do you think that it’s something that’s good and should stay that way, or do you think that it is important to learn about the outside world?

 I think it’s important to learn about the outside the world. I think it’s something that is missing for Cuban people, but the older I get, I see that life is not fair.

So now that Fidel is gone, and Raul promises that he will step down in a year. What do you think are the next steps that Cuba is going to take. What do you think is going to happen and what do you think should happen?

 I think what needs to happen is a revolution, a revolution against the bullies who have control over Cuba. It needs to come from within. It needs to come from the people.

Do you think they are ready for that?

 No, I think that they are starving and they are more worried about what they are going to eat the next day, so they can’t get together and plot anything.

So considering that, what do you think will happen?

 I think Cuba will stay the way it is for a very long time. I don’t see a reform coming to the island for a very long time, not ten years not twenty years. I think that because the people who are in power right now don’t want to lose power things will stay the same for a while.

What kinds of things do you think would have to happen?

Well, the creation of multiple parties would need to happen. Cuba only has only one party. The un-censoring of public out cry — people need to have the freedom to have debates about what needs to change on the island. Free speech.

But you don’t think people are going to get freedom of speech anytime soon?

I don’t think so. People “have” freedom of speech now but it’s very metaphorical. If you speak out against the government you can’t say it blatantly. You can’t say, “Cuba sucks let’s overthrow this government,” so if you want to call that freedom of speech, we don’t have none.

Is there anything that you think people can do outside of Cuba to help Cubans with the current situation?

It’s going to have to be similar to what Fidel did; there will be people who want to infiltrate the island. There may be capitalist propaganda. Maybe someone with money or the U.S. will step in, but that’s not proven to work either because look at what happened in the Middle East.

Right. Any last thoughts?

I think that this is the beginning of the new era now that there isn’t that physical body. Fidel Castro is in the history books. That’s what it is.