A Cuban Argument over Emigration

Rosa Martinez

HAVANA TIMES, Sept. 22 — Several days ago I participated in a seminar at the Superior Pedagogic Institute in the city of Guantanamo. These were long and fruitful workdays, but I always got home late because the transportation in the eastern part of the city is so poor.

On one occasion I got on a bus that was completely full.  It reminded me of the song by Los Van Van La Habana no aguanta más (Havana can’t hold any more folks) and that of the charismatic Candido Fabre, Corranse ahi, caballeros, corranse ahi, echen un paso p`atras, que en el fondo caben más (Step up, gentlemen, move forward; one more step, more can fit in the back).

Students and teachers alike were as packed in the bus like sardines in a can, all just trying to survive until we reached our destination.

Three blocks before getting to downtown’s Jose Marti Park, a student asked the driver: “How far are you going?”

However the driver only responded with another question: “Where do you want to go?”

“Well, I wanted to go north,” the young girl replied.

“Baby, all of us want to go in that direction, but we can’t,” said the driver smiling, which triggered her smile as well.

A teacher lashed back angrily with a quick and irritated response: “Who says we all want to go North? I don’t want to go anywhere; I’m quite content here.  And like me, so are most Cubans.”

Another student supported the teacher saying, “People think that they’ll find the solutions to all their problems in the North, but they’re mistaken.”

And so began this debate that divided everyone into two groups: those who wanted to go to the North and those who vehemently defended remaining in the South. I started to get the feeling that this wasn’t going to wind up well.  People’s emotions were getting riled up and I felt like I was in the middle of a battle full of hollering and insults….

Fortunately the driver who had sparked the war paid no attention to the bullets flying from one side to the other; he continued driving along peacefully.

Behind him, one kid told another youngster: “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to emigrate.  It’s a world phenomenon brought on mainly by the situation with the economy.  Though it affects us very close to home, Cuba’s not the country with the most immigration to the United States.”

His comrade said that anyone would have to be pretty stupid if they had the chance to leave for the North but didn’t.  “Everybody knows that here it’s a mess.  Right now people don’t know what they’re going to do to survive,” he said.

When the bus got to the corner of Ahogados and Paseo streets, I got up and walked through the middle of the battlefield.  At the moment I got off, I didn’t know if the bus would finally go north or south; I only walked away, toward the west.