“I Love You, Cuba”

Write something, my colleague Odalys suggests. And she shows me a picture of some passengers of the British cruise ship where everyone can read “I love you, Cuba.”

Actually, I did not know where to begin. But I read a messenger text from my friend Rita: “Here I am, sad because that man died and happy because we rescued that cruise ship. They are already moving on! Why are there so many indifferent people?

Then I recall the open opposition and the conspiratorial silence of some atheists and Christians who survive thanks to their lectures on “human rights.”

One quick look to my social networks and there I found Rolando Segura, my professor in Television studies, showing pictures of a ship carrying Jewish refugees that was rejected by neo-colonial Cuba in 1939 and was forced to return to Europe to suffer again the brutality of fascism. Many found death at concentration camps.

One idea after the other: the photo and grateful message of Anthea Guthrie from the MS Braemar; my mom’s request to write on Facebook on her behalf that she agrees with the decision; the photo of the pilot, doctors, specialists, showing bravery and professionalism; the infinite pride of my nation, different, humane…

Cuba is great and offers its solidarity to the world. I love you, Cuba…How would I write something as huge as this gesture?

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff