Fidel Castro's Cuba - The Aftermath of Fidel Castro

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My name is Miguel Antonio Olivella, Jr. I was born in Havana, Cuba in 1954 and came to the United States in 1960 with my parents and my younger sister, each of us carrying a suitcase with whatever my mother was able to pack.

I have never been back to Cuba. Part of me has wanted to go back to see family members that are still there and to visit the places that I very, very vaguely remember from my childhood - our house, my school, etc.

But I haven't gone back.

Before he passed away, my father wouldn't hear of any discussion about returning to Cuba for a visit. He knew any money spent in Cuba would go to into the Castros' pockets and that was simply not going to happen. My mother will not go back, even today, out of respect for my father's feelings.

We still occasionally communicate with what is left of our family there. My uncle passed away years ago. My aunt passed away two weeks ago. I hadn't seen her since 1960.

A few years ago I was able to exchange emails with one of my two cousins. He was only one  when we left Cuba and I was only five so I have no memory of him. He told me that he worked for a foreign company and had access to the Internet through work. He also told me about his family and I told him about mine.

I asked him if there was anything we shouldn't discuss in emails because I didn't want him to get into any trouble. His reply was awkwardly phrased, but he said no, we could talk about anything. At one point, he even sent me photos of his home and his family. I did likewise.

One day, an email to him was returned as undeliverable. I tried to send it several more times but each time I got the same result. A few weeks later I found out that he had been arrested and shipped off to prison. He had been running a small business on the side, selling things on the black market in order to scrounge up enough money to feed his family, and was ratted out by a neighbor. That's the way things are in Cuba. Neighbors rat out neighbors.

He's no longer in prison. He was sent to a farm where he is kept under guard. It's a work farm where people are sent to provide labor for agriculture. He can't leave so it's no different than a prison.

His story is all too common and it led me to want to learn more about my former country, what led to Castro's revolution, and what has happened to my homeland since. My mother has shared many stories about life in Cuba pre-Castro. We also hear how things are through relatives and friends who have come to the U.S. after we did or who have been back to Cuba.

All this led to the creation of this blog. It will be a vehicle for me to share my thoughts on topics relating to Cuba.

Here we go.

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