Silvia Wilhelm’s Remarks at the conference
50 Years of the Cuban Revolution
Queens College, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
May 8, 2009
THE CUBAN COMMUNITY ABROAD
“Crossing borders…..still Cuban”
I have been asked to speak about Cubans living abroad as we reflect on 50 years
of the Cuban Revolution. This will not be an easy task for the Cuban Revolution
forever changed the course of our lives.
Unlike most of you attending and presenting at this conference, I am not an
academic but a political activist and community organizer. This last “title”
gives me enormous pride as our President Obama has truly raised its social
connotation. So don‘t expect an academic paper but a sincere talk from the
heart. A talk that I truly hope represents the feelings and realities of the
vast majority of Cubans living abroad. Cubans who have never forgotten que la
Patria es la de Marti, que es la Patria de todos.
Being that I live in ground zero, better known as Miami, my talk will
concentrate on those of us Cubans living in South Florida. Who are we the Cubans
who have crossed the border, who are now known as Cuban Americans and who
primarily reside in South Florida? What is our relationship to the country of
our birth? What have been our challenges, successes and contradictions? What
lies ahead in our relationship with Cuba?
The stories of us Cubans who have crossed the border since 1959 are as varied as
the number of Cubans living abroad. So I will start my telling my story.
In the summer of 1960, after enthusiastically supporting the Cuban revolution,
my family got concerned about the changes taking place in Cuba. Specifically
they were alarmed when rumors started spreading that the new revolutionary
government was going to take away la Patria Potestad or parental rights. This
turned out to be misinformation that had been deliberately planted by
organizations interested in destabilizing the new process taking place in Cuba.
Nevertheless, in January of 1961 my mother and grandparents bid me goodbye at
the Jose Marti airport in Havana for what they considered to be a nine to twelve
month separation. They obviously misread what was occurring on the ground in
Cuba. I left for the United States as an unaccompanied child in what was
eventually known as Operacion Pedro Pan, or Operation Peter Pan. I was one of
14,000 Cuban children who eventually left Cuba.
After spending time in an orphanage in Buffalo, New York and in a Catholic
girls’ boarding school in Olean, NY, I finally reunited with my family 10 months
later in Miami. Many of the Pedro Pans were not so lucky. There are some
difficult stories associated with this operation but there are also stories of
human solidarity and survival. I learned to survive against all odds and it has
helped me in my 15 years of work in the trenches of Miami trying to change US
policy towards Cuba. I will always honor my family’s decision to send me abroad
but in May of 1994 I made the difficult decision to return, a decision that
forever changed my life, this time on my own terms.
Cuban emigration to the United States did not start with the triumph of the
Cuban revolution but during the first half of the 1800. This emigration was
largely white and professional. A more diverse emigration took place during the
end of the 19th century as a result of Cuba’s Ten Year’s War (1868-1878).
Emigration continued on to the first half of the next century, but this
emigration came from all different classes and had several motivating factors,
political exile or looking for a better way of life but either way these
immigrants came with the idea of one day returning to their homeland.
With the triumph of the Cuban revolution in 1959 the majority of the Cuban
population was ecstatic that the Batista dictatorship had finally come to an
end. But soon afterwards many Cubans became disillusioned with the communist
orientation their revolution turned into.
The Cuban migration to the United States since then has occurred in several
“waves”. For the purpose of this presentation I have opted to list them in this
fashion:
The first wave to arrive in the United States consisted of persons closely
associated with the Batista regime, high government officials, political
leaders, military officers. They feared retribution from the new
Revolutionary government in many instances in the form of execution known as
facing the “paredon”.
The next wave which arrived shortly after the Batistianos at the beginning of
the 60’s and 70s consisted primarily of an elite group of professionals
disenchanted with the new measures instituted by the revolutionary government of
Cuba. Some had relatives who had served prison, some had businesses confiscated
and some left thinking that the United States would once again solve a Cuban
problem. They saw this “exile” as a temporary one. They did not leave for the
United States looking for the land of “milk and honey”, they left Cuba in the
middle of a Cold War fleeing the onset of Communism in their homeland. All in
all close to 458,000 Cubans left prior to 1980. These two groups are commonly
known as the “exilio historico”.
As a generality they left no relatives behind, they do not travel to Cuba and
they do not send remittances. They still exercise considerable control over both
the written press and TV and radio coverage in Miami with any news having to do
with Cuba. They dream of one day when Cuba will be “free” and they will go back
to power in the Cuba they once knew.
Many of them have become true American success stories occupying leading
positions in key institutions in South Florida, in labor unions, universities,
politics, the news media and cultural organizations.
The next wave of Cuban immigrants consists of those who left during the Mariel
boatlift, approximately 125,000 and the balsero exodus of 1994 which brought
another 40,000 to the Florida peninsula, not to mention the Cubans who arrive as
a result of migratory accords.
These Cuban Americans, unlike the “exilio historico” spent part of their
formative years in Cuba under the current system; the majority of them left
family behind, they have a strong bond with the Cuba of today and they currently
represent the vast majority of Cubans who travel to the island to visit family
left behind. As a generality they oppose US policy towards Cuba and want a
peaceful solution to the Cuban dilemma. To a large extent these Cuban Americans
left for the United States for economic reasons especially those that emigrated
after the fall of the Soviet Union during Cuba’s difficult Periodo Especial, or
special period. Census numbers tell us that from 1980 to the present close to
430,000 Cubans have arrived in Florida.
The next group is the new generation of Cuban Americans born in the United
States of Cuban parents. They are young, energetic, and ambitious and have
assimilated to American culture. A great majority of them do not forget their
Cuban roots; in fact they thrive in calling themselves Cuban Americans. Their
political stance vis-à-vis the Cuba of today is often a reflection of their
parents and grandparents’ stance. Yet, they are coming of age; they are
interested in the issue and they are demanding to be heard on their own terms.
As you can see, the landscape of the Cuban American community of South Florida
is in a state of flux between those considered the “exilio historico”, the newer
arrivals and younger generations. It has never been a monolithic community; it
is constantly renovating itself; it is drastically changing, I would say
moderating, in its position relating to the reality of the Cuba of today.
The first generation to arrive, or “exile generation”, those who came in the
first wave and were old enough to have made the decision to leave, very clearly
identify with their homeland, the one pre 1959. They are Cubans first and
Spanish continues to be their primary language.
The next generation, what sometimes is referred to as the “one and a half
generation”, my generation, born in Cuba but coming of age in the US regard
themselves as Cubans and as Americans, they feel equally comfortable with both
cultures and languages and easily maneuver between the two.
The so-called second generation, the first to be born in the United States,
feels a connection to their Cuban roots because parents and grandparents have
taught them to but they are not as intense to either the politics of the issue
or to Cuba.
All in all a sense of pride, a sense of having been chosen “maybe by the grace
of God” to be Cubans permeates all generations, all groups of Cubans who have
crossed the border and reside in South Florida.
In 1978 a group of Cubans residing abroad were permitted to return to the island
and hold conversations with Cuban officials on issues dealing with the role,
rights and responsibilities of Cubans who no longer lived in the island. Without
a doubt that reunion 30 years ago paved the way for the changes we see taking
place in our communities today. This panel would have never taken place if that
reunion had not occurred.
I have witnessed enormous changes in my community on how to deal with the
realities of the Cuba of today. There was a period in the 70s, 80s and early 90s
when advocating for a change of US policy towards Cuba put oneself at risk, not
only personally but professionally. There have been numerous incidents of bombs
being placed in workplaces and homes, of physical and verbal threats, of social
and professional isolation. The anti-Castro industry in Miami has been both a
powerful and lucrative one but this industry is rapidly declining as it should.
The trend towards “moderation” that I am witnessing in South Florida is due, in
my opinion, to two important factors; 1) the large number of recent arrivals
from Cuba who understand the Cuba of today and have left family members behind
who they relate to and want to keep a close connection with; 2) the emergence of
a new generation of Cuban Americans or Americans of Cuban descent who are tired
of the politics of war and isolation and are developing positions clearly in
touch with engagement and reconciliation.
The recent election of Barack Obama as President of the US and his executive
decision to allow unlimited travel by Cuban Americans to the island has been
highlighted by the New York Times in an April 21st article as the “end of a 50
year stalemate period and a new dawn on US/Cuba relations”. Even though I
enthusiastically applaud President Obama’s lifting of such cruel and draconian
regulations I believe the time has come for him to also use his executive power
to reinstate the people to people categories of purposeful travel so prevalent
during the Clinton Administration. I am cautiously optimistic that the US
Congress will pass legislation in 2009 that will allow travel for all Americans
to the island.
The recent poll of Cuban Americans conducted by Bendixen and Associates and
published on April 20, 2009, soon after President Obama announced his new
policy, shows not only widespread support for Mr. Obama, 64% supported his new
policy on travel and remittances but even a larger majority, 67% said they had a
favorable opinion of the new Democratic President, the highest rating amongst
Cuban Americans since Ronald Reagan was in office. 67% of the 400 polled also
supported travel by All Americans to Cuba.
As I stand here today commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Cuban
Revolution, I would like to envision what the future could look like for the
Cubans who left and those who live in the island. I envision a future where
freedom of movement in both directions would be possible; where Cubans living
abroad can choose to spend long periods of time in their “country of birth” and
even some can retire there. I envision a future when both sides can applaud each
other’s accomplishments proudly; when trust between us becomes the common
denominator; and when working together on cultural, professional and business
projects becomes the norm and not the exception.
As we reflect on the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution Cubans both inside
the island and outside must take pride in each other’s glorious accomplishments
but must also reflect on some of the mistakes and injustices that are part of
our past. We must strive to erase the lines that drew us apart and instead learn
to draw circles that can bind us together. We must learn to celebrate as one.
The road to reconciliation, which started long ago, is now accelerating. Let’s
double the effort.
President Obama said it best on April 11, 2009 during his weekly address to the
American people. A message that can certainly resonate with us Cubans:
‘With all that is at stake today, we cannot afford to talk past one another. We
can’t afford to allow old differences to prevent us from making progress in
areas of common concern. We can’t afford to let walls of mistrust stand.
Instead, we have to find – and build on – our mutual interests. For it is only
when people come together, and seek common ground, that some of that mistrust
can begin to fade. And that is where progress begins.’
I would like to wrap up my presentation in Spanish with the words of a poet,
Emilio Cossio. I believe that it eloquently states what most Cubans who have
crossed the border feel about their native country.
VOLVER
by Emilio Cossio
Volver?
Como puedo volver si no me he ido
Si llevo en mi alma sembrado mi pasado
Si no he cesado de sufrir lo que he sufrido
Ni dejado de amar lo que yo he amado?
Solo pueden volver los que han dejado
Perdidos en el polvo del olvido
Los suenos en la Patria aprisionados
Por el sueno en suelo extrano prometido
Solo pueden volver los que se han ido
Y en suelo extrano han enterrado
Sus recuerdos, sus anhelos y el pasado
YO NO PUEDO VOLVER!! YO NO ME HE IDO!