Proud to be from Pica Pica

~ memories and thoughts

Proud to be from Pica Pica

Monthly Archives: August 2015

WILL THE CASTROS WIN AGAIN?

26 Wednesday Aug 2015

Posted by bionicmoo in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

It saddens me to realize that the Castro’s tactic of “divide and conquer” is alive and well. I was nine years old on January 1, 1959. I saw people take to the streets in celebration. As a matter of fact I rode in a truck full of people shouting “Viva Fidel.” As time progressed I also saw people ransacking the homes of Batista’s people who had left the country. For weeks as I walked to my piano lessons, I would see the debris outside one of the homes – everything piled up including a smashed TV set that somehow has been engraved in my memory.

My father was very excited about the changes. He was very much against Batista. My mother not so much. Although she was definitely not “Batistiana”, she had read enough about Fidel Castro’s past to be weary. Despite his enthusiasm for the revolution, my father was outraged when a mob gathered in front of the house across the street where the parents and sisters of a Batista representative lived. Although the representative and his brother had fled on January 1, his wife and children had sought refuge at his parents’ house. So an elderly couple, two single women, a mother with her two year daughter and a one month old baby boy were inside the house with all the lights out while the mob banged at their door ready to ransack their home.

I am proud to say that my father with the help of our next door neighbor, a very strong Castro supporter, confronted that mob. My father was well respected in the community and was able to convince the mob that their actions were cruel and unnecessary. The mob moved on to their next target.

I saw families torn apart. Property taken from people that had worked hard for what they had. I witnessed hatred and envy ooze from the most unlikely people. I was there at the time of the Bay of Pigs invasion when men, women and youth were imprisoned if they had the slightest anti-revolution inclination. In my hometown they were held at the stadium and abandoned farms, with no provisions of food or bedding. People had given up their guns with Castro’s convenient motto “Armas para que?” (Arms, whatever for?).

I could go on and on. But what frightens me is the division among Cubans today. I belong to the group that is now considered “nostalgic for Batista’s Cuba” or cowards who just let Cuba go. We have the “Marielitos”, the “balseros” and those who have come here in order to be able to provide for their families that are still in Cuba and God only knows how much more fragmented we are.

I have spent most of my life in the United States. Even if things changed I would not go back to Cuba to live. It is no longer my country and most likely I would not be welcomed there. But I do wish for a prosperous and peaceful Cuba for those who are there. It is in God’s hands and through him everything is possible.

charityVirgencita de la Caridad – Salva a Cuba

 

GOD GIVE ME PATIENCE – AND I WANT IT NOW!

19 Wednesday Aug 2015

Posted by bionicmoo in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

HAB108- LA HABANA (CUBA), 17/3/2010.- Miembros de las Damas de Blanco participa en una protesta hoy, miércoles 17 de marzo de 2010, en la barriada de Párraga en La Habana (Cuba). Agentes cubanos empujaron y arrastraron a una treintena del grupo disidente de mujeres y las subieron a la fuerza a dos autobuses para romper su marcha por suburbios de la capital, como parte de las protestas por el séptimo aniversario del encarcelamiento de 75 disidentes en 2003. EFE/ROLANDO PUJOLDamas en Blanco

It is amazing how the truth can be twisted and how easily people believe what the media wants them to believe. I feel so powerless and wish I didn’t care. Still I witnessed Castro’s take over and the injustices committed the first three years. I am also aware of many trials and tragedies endured by family members in the ensuing 50 years. As far as what the media reports I am in complete agreement with G.K. Chesterton – “We do not need a censorship of the press. We have a censorship by the press.”

My Catholic faith will guide and comfort me during these times of total disregard for goodness, life and justice.

Upon his arrest by the Nazis St. Maximilian Kolbe said the following:

“No one in the world can change Truth. What we can do and and should do is to seek truth and to serve it when we have found it. The real conflict is the inner conflict. Beyond armies of occupation and the hetacombs of extermination camps, there are two irreconcilable enemies in the depth of every soul: good and evil, sin and love. And what use are the victories on the battlefield if we ourselves are defeated in our innermost personal selves?”

St. Maximilian Kolbe, pray for peace and the safety of all persecuted Christians!

Since I wrote the above I was contacted by one of the daughters of my Tia Maria’s brother who has been searching for information on her father’s family. She was born in the U.S., her father died when she was 11 and they have lost all contact with his family. I can provide her with some information and perhaps even get her in contact with our mutual cousins.

In the midst of terrible disappointment regarding the manner in which the U.S-Cuba “reconciliation” is taking place and the inane statement by Sen. Leahy about Cubans opposing Obama’s action in respect to Cuba being “nostalgic for Batista’s Cuba,” I have acquired some new cousins. Life is still good.

 

 

 

MY CUBAN BLOOD IS BOILING

16 Sunday Aug 2015

Posted by bionicmoo in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Writing this blog has become a major struggle for me. I have lost sight of the reason why I began writing it in the first place. It is a means to remember people, things and events that meant a lot to me and also a way to express feelings of sadness or joy as they happen. It is a form of therapy as the aging process continues. I have been immersed in self-pity thinking that no one else really cares about it and there is no reason to keep it going.

Recent events have made me come to my senses and I realize how much I need to keep writing about my experiences. I am not a political person and had forgotten that my Cuban blood is very much still running through my veins. I cannot forget how Fidel Castro’s regime changed my life and destroyed the Cuba where I was born and lived the first thirteen years of my life.

We, the Cubans that came to this country as children because of the courage and sacrifice of our parents, must never forget what the Castro brothers have done to a once prosperous country. I know that our “rantings” fall in deaf ears and we are dismissed as “those crazy Cubans,” but I know what I saw and what I experienced and whether anyone listens or not I must tell my story.

Castros Now Castro the Two-headed Monster and Johnny and Barack are “friends.”

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