Cuba’s Patron Saint, Watch Over Cubans Everywhere

Rosa Martínez

HAVANA TIMES — I’ve lost count of the number of relatives, friends and acquaintances I’ve had to say goodbye to over the past 10 years.

For one reason or another – and through one means of another – several of my young cousins, nearly all of my friends from university (most of them close friends), some neighbors and even acquaintances from my junior and senior secondary days have left the country.

Time and time again, I’ve had to say “don’t cry, I won’t cry either. Good luck, write me, take care of yourself,” and I’ve asked god, Our Lady of El Cobre, the saints and holy providence to help each and every one of them, to help them find jobs, adapt quickly, stay healthy, prosper and do well.

The saints must have heard my prayers or my friends must have been very lucky, because most have had a fruitful new life. Nearly all of them work (no one in their field of studies, but at least they make enough to live decorously), have their own place to live (some are owners, others pay rent), travel at least once a year, help their relatives on the island financially and visit us from time to time.

I don’t have any friends or acquaintances among the many Cubans currently stranded in Costa Rica, but it is as though they were close. That, at least, is how I feel.

When I think about what’s going on, all of the people who have left the country come to mind, and I think they could well be in this situation now. I think about myself and how more than once I’d come to the conclusion there is no other solution other than leaving, but two little girls make me change my mind.

I ask fortune and Cuba’s patron saint to watch over those Cubans who have made it, who are on their way, who are in Costa Rica, who will try their luck tomorrow or the day after, everyone.