Cubans divided on more issues than travel

Posted on Monday, 04.20.09
Cubans divided on more issues than travel
JACKIE BUENO SOUSA

jsousa@MiamiHerald.com

In the days since President Barack Obama relaxed travel restrictions to Cuba, the media have consistently reported how the issue has split Miami's Cuban community.

Please allow me to offer a clarification: Disagreement over travel has not split Miami's Cuban community. No, it's merely highlighted a social fracture that has existed for years, but which was camouflaged to outsiders by the bonds of family loyalty and the shared empathy of fellow immigrants.

The split started forming when the Mariel boatlift of 1980 and subsequent immigration waves brought Cubans who, compared to those who arrived in the '60s and '70s, looked different, lacked a hatred for Fidel Castro, were poorer, uttered a strange slang and used an unappreciated vocabulary.

The post-1980 Cubans were more likely to come for economic reasons, rather than political dissent. They didn't have traditional Spanish names like Maria or Juan or Carlos. Instead, they had Russian names, often starting with the letter Y. They too easily used words like compañero -- comrade -- which triggered angst among the earlier arrivals. Those were seemingly small differences that started forming fissures large enough to house an ideology and potent enough to break a voting bloc.

Once, a few years ago, my friend Frank, a Cuba hard-liner, was outside working in his front lawn when a lost driver pulled up in front of his house and innocently asked for directions.

''Compañero,'' the driver called out in Spanish, ``can you help me find this address?''

''Compañero?'' Frank responded, unable to believe what he had just heard -- in Hialeah, no less. ''Who the hell are you calling `compañero'?'' Frank said as he reached for a rock as if to throw it at the unsuspecting fellow, who just managed to rush back in his car and speed off.

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http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/1007814.html