Havana Cuba. — I have my only daughter living in Italy, together with her mother, for 25 years. I haven’t seen her again in all that time. I don’t even know my granddaughter, who is already 10 years old. Many thousands of Cubans have similar situations.
A few days ago, to illustrate the inflation in Cuba, I sent my daughter a photo of three two-liter packages of instant soda and I explained that they cost me 240 pesos. Her response was: “How horrible!”
When we talk to some foreigners and we explain the Cuban situation to them, they look at us as if we were aliens. They do not conceive that the aforementioned is true. Some think we are lying and others look pitying and compassionate.
But it is amazing that something similar happens with our compatriots, who, although they have been out of Cuba for a long time, faced situations similar to ours. Many Cubans who live abroad have a hard time understanding those of us who remain in the country. The different ways of life create between us a greater abyss than the one that was generated, according to the Old Testament, when the waters of the Red Sea parted for the Hebrew people to pass through. And this situation of incomprehension, for ideological reasons or geographical distance, anguishes and hurts us.
Many of our compatriots living abroad when they visit their loved ones in Cuba are stunned by our harsh existence. The shortcomings, difficulties and prices of all things are his constant surprise.
Similar is the astonishment of those who have the good fortune to travel abroad to see their loved ones, and have the opportunity to compare their existence with the one they lead in Cuba.
Cubans who go abroad to visit their families or for work or study reasons, if they return, tell of the marvels they saw and enjoyed in other countries, as Marco Polo recounted the experiences of his trips to the lands of the Great Khan.
Many of the friends who went abroad, over time forget those who stayed here. In cases where friendship is recovered, there are different language and opinions. It is that they live different realities.
An old friend of mine who has lived in the United States for years, once contacted me by phone, and while I was talking to him about my reality, he told me how happy he was because he was able to change the car and buy an expensive Hasselblad camera. It was as if he was telling me that his dreams came true, and mine didn’t.
Very sad is the division of families for political and ideological reasons. And there are innumerable families that are divided by the position that some of their members take for or against the regime. In not a few cases they have broken their relationships and have not seen or communicated again for the rest of their lives. The same happens with friends or neighbors of many years who, for political reasons, do not even speak to each other.
We Cubans are increasingly divided. And the majority are those who are against the dictatorship. The popular protests after July 11, 2021 (J11), in particular the one that recently occurred in alligatorand the frequent opinions against the regime, expressed publicly and loudly, are a reflection of this.
People who have suffered the loss of a loved one who was shot or disappeared in the Florida Straits while seeking freedom, or the relatives of political prisoners feel deep resentment towards the regime.
We are facing a huge abyss: on one side is the increasingly suffering population due to material deficiencies and lack of freedoms; on the other side, the high leadership that imposes its repressive and anti-democratic policy to stay in power.
The solution to close the abyss that has existed for 64 years among Cubans will be freedom, and it will come sooner or later.
OPINION ARTICLE
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