Cuba Diaries (49 page)

The U.S. embargo, though softened, continues. The United States has approved Cuban purchases of medicine and food from the United States, but Cuba is still denied access to the loans necessary to buy them. A recent shipment of corn from the United States to Cuba—the first since the beginning of
the U.S. embargo—was paid for by Cuba in cash. Though there has been a clampdown by the United States on its citizens' making unauthorized trips to Cuba, there has been, at the same time, a broader definition of authorized trips and greater facilitation of travel to Cuba. The hurdles set before Cubans wishing to travel outside of their country remain very high.

Cuban history, like the history of most states, is a time line riddled with brackets: brackets within brackets, and brackets that overlap. Simply stated, the brackets mark times in which unexpected things happen. What makes Cuban history different even from the history of other Latin American countries is the extent to which magical realism is allowed to become part of its timeline, both within and outside its brackets of unexpectedness.

Without a doubt, the most distinct bracket of time since we left Cuba has been the Elián González period, when Cubans on both sides of the Straits of Florida fought over the fate of one little boy. The case might have been concluded quickly had it not been for the seemingly miraculous circumstances of the boy's survival. Elián came to be equated with La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre herself, with Moses, with Elegguá, the opener of roads (who is often portrayed as a child), and with the child-savior of Ifa (one of the five branches of Santeria) oracles, who, it was predicted, would arrive by sea. As if that were not enough, Elián was also found on Thanksgiving Day. And so the figure of Elián manages to be syncretic not only in an Afro-Cuban sense but also in an
Afro-Cuban-yanqui
sense, hitherto unheard of.

Since Cuba has repossessed Elián, the leadership of the Cuban-American National Foundation has been replaced by a more moderate, younger generation. And on September 12, 2001, Raúl Castro presided over a rally of “solidarity with the American people over the tragedy they are living through.” Manipulations aside, the fact is that Elián is growing up with his one remaining parent in his native land. His future there becomes harder to imagine every day. Still, one cannot have lived in Cuba without being affected by magical realism oneself, without believing it a distinct possibility that Elián, growing up, will experience more miracles. And maybe they won't even have to be miracles.

February 2002

agua mala:
“bad water,” microorganisms in the sea that cause raised welts on the skin of sea bathers

agro, agropecuario:
fruit, vegetable, lamb, and pork market

apagón:
blackout

babalao:
Santeria priest

balsa:
raft

balsero:
rafter

barrio:
neighborhood

blumes:
underpants

bodega: neighborhood food store where Cubans shop, using ration cards

bohio:
hut

boniato:
sweet potato

El Caballo: the Horse, another name for Fidel Castro

caoba: Cuban mahogany

cáscara de toronja:
grapefruit rind that has been boiled, then pressed under a weight, in syrup

CDR: Committee for the Defense of the Revolution

chica, chico:
girl, boy

chicharrones:
pork cracklings

La China: the Chinese Woman, another name for Raúl Castro

chino:
“Chink,” “Chinaman”

Cohiba: the best brand of cigars

compañero:
comrade

conseguir:
to achieve, obtain, get

coprocultivo:
bacterial culture grown from a stool sample

Cubalse: state-run monopoly for construction, the distribution of construction and household materials, and the providing of employees to foreign entities, among other activities

cucurucho:
sweet made of coconut, sugar, and almonds

cuentapropista:
self-employed worker

Diplo, Diplomercado: Diplomarket, the largest and most well supplied dollars-only supermarket in Havana

dulce de coco:
coconut sweet

duro:
hard-line

un duro:
a hard-liner

El: Him, another name for Fidel Castro

Elegguá: a Santeria saint who is “an opener of roads”

ensalada de espan:
SPAM salad

escabeche:
fillets of
serrucho
, a type of fish, breaded and fried with onions, then pressed under a weight, in vinegar, for a week

fula:
dollar

gallego:
Galician, from the province of Galicia in Spain

guajira, guajiro:
farmer or country person

hijos de puta:
sons of a whore

jamon biki:
a salami-shaped ham made of many parts of the pig

jine:
short for

jinetera;
also, of or pertaining to a

jinetera
, as in

jinewear jinetera, jinetero:
semiprofessional female or male prostitute

judias:
literally “Jews;” white beans

loca, loco:
crazy

majá:
small boa constrictor native to Cuba

malanga: an edible tuber

maricón:
“faggot”

mariquitas:
green bananas sliced thin, then fried like potato chips; also, “little faggots”

mojito:
cocktail consisting of light rum, dark rum, lime juice, sugar, and crushed mint

mojo:
garlic sauce

mulata, mulato:
mulatta, mulatto

muestra:
stool sample

un negro:
a black person, a negro, a “nigger”

un negrito:
a little black person, a little negro, a little “nigger”

El Niño:
the Child or the Kid, another name for Fidel Castro

nomenklatura:
the Communist leadership

oriental, orientales:
oriental, orientals, meaning Cubans originating from anywhere east of Camagüey; also known as
palestinos

panatela de Boston crema:
Boston cream pie

panqué:
pancake

paredón:
a wall against which people were executed

periodo especial:
special period, short for “special period in time of peace,” the time in Cuban history following the withdrawal of aid from the Soviet Union, in which Cubans were asked to endure shortages and inconveniences for the sake of the survival of the socialist revolution while the government adjusted to new realities

perros calientes:
hot dogs

permutar:
to exchange houses or apartments

picua:
a fish that is often toxic

la pincha; pinchar:
work; to work

plátano:
banana

plátanos verdes:
green (nonsweet) bananas

P.P.G.: pronounced
pe pe hay
, an anti-impotence drug

puros:
cigars

quedarse:
to stay, meaning in Cuba “to go to another country and stay there;”
se quedó en el exterior
means “he stayed abroad”

resolver:
to resolve (a problem), also meaning in Cuba to find goods and take possession of them, to settle an issue with the bureaucracy

ron:
rum

ron añejo:
rum aged more than seven years

rumbera:
female rumba dancer; also, a folklorically dressed Cuban woman, in long, flounced skirt, white cotton or lace puffy-sleeved off-the-shoulder blouse, and head kerchief, sometimes seen smoking a cigar

El Señor: the Mister, the Sir, or the Lord, another name for Fidel Castro

serrucho:
a fish

tostones:
green bananas that are fried, then flattened

el triunfo:
short for “the triumph of the revolution”

vieja, viejo:
old

yucas rellenas:
mashed yuccas stuffed with meat, rolled in bread crumbs, and deep-fried

La Yuma:
the United States

yuca:
an edible tuber

The Tattlin Family

Isadora, the narrator

Nick, her husband

Thea, their daughter

Jimmie, their son

Sam, Isadora's brother

The Help

Concha, the downstairs maid

Danila, the upstairs maid

Estrella, the laundress

José, the driver

Lorena, the cook

Manuel, the butler

Miguel, the gardener

Roberto, the driver for guests and errand boy

The Nannies

Juana, the Cuban nanny, who joined the family later and left with them

Muna, the Bangladeshi nanny, who came with the family but left for home early

Instructors

Carlita, the swimming instructor

Gonzalo, who replaced Carlita as the swimming instructor

Lety, the gymnastics instructor

Mrs. Fleites, a teacher at the children's school

Olga, the Spanish instructor

Doctors

Millares Cao, the specialist in skin diseases

Maria del Carmen, the psychologist

Yamila Lawton, the allergist

Silvia, the pediatrician

Cuban Officials
(some no longer in office at the time of this writing)

Fidel Castro, president

Raúl Castro, his brother, vice president, and head of the armed forces

Alfredo Guevara (no relation to Che), head of the Instituto Cubano del Arte y de la Industria Cinematográfica (ICAIC), or Cuban Film Institute

Eusebio Leal, historian of the city of Havana and founder and president of Habaguanex, a corporation dedicated to the restoration of Old Havana

Maida, a Bienes Culturales employee

Nestor, a Customs agent

Orestes, a plainclothesman in Havana

Piñeiro, aka Barbaroja (Redbeard), former head of Cuban intelligence

Rigoberto, head of the Consejo Popular in Pinar del Río

Cuban Artists, Writers, Musicians, and Intelligentsia
(see also
Survivors
)

Natalia Bolivar Arostegui, a former teenage revolutionary, now an anthropologist, writer, and expert on Santeria

Saidel Brito, an artist Alexis Esquivel, an artist

Reynaldo González, a writer and director of Cineteca, or the Cuban Film Archives

Kcho, an artist

Dulce María Loynaz, Cuba's greatest living lyric poet

Meira, Ángel Toirac's wife, a writer and poetess

Antonio Nuñez, an artist

Oliva, an artist in Pinar del Río

YeYe Perez, a professional blackface actor

Zenaida Castro Romeu, the conductor of Camerata Romeu

Lázaro Saavedra, an artist

Esterio Segura, an artist

Ángel Toirac, an artist

Other Cuban Friends and Acquaintances
(see also
Survivors
)

Alfonse, aka El Ingles

Aurora, a book dealer

Báez, an official Cuban journalist

Barbara, aka our Elegguá, an unofficial guide who also works at Nick's firm

Lilian and Saida Carrera, two very old sisters living in the Vedado area

Eddie, Reynaldo Gonzalez's boyfriend

El Viejo Loco, an antique dealer

Nelson Figueroa, an architect living in Baracoa

Flora, Ladisel's wife

Gloria, an artisan living in Baracoa

Ivan, an employee at Nick's firm

Jaime, a gay friend

Ladisel, a tour guide in Cienfuegos and Varadero

Lola, an enterprising, voluble friend

Reny, a cultural liaison

Davide, an architect, uncle of Carlita

Naty Revuelta, Fidel's ex-lover and the mother of his only daughter, Alina

Bibi Sebaya, an original resident of the Country Club area

Sergio, an Argentinean tour guide in Pinar del Río

Tomás, a lawyer living in Baracoa

Usnavy, a friend of Aurora's

Arquitecto Vasquez, an architect who runs a gallery-cum-
paladar

Foreign Friends and Acquaintances

Alex, a diplomat

Bernard, Nick's second assistant

Carey, the Italian ambassador's American wife

Fritz, Nick's first assistant

Ana María Guevara, Che's stepmother

Mike Kozak, principal officer of the U.S. Special Interests Section, the de facto U.S. ambassador; Sullivan was his predecessor

Lorna, an American, the ex-wife of Piñeiro (see
Cuban Officials
)

Marianne, a Canadian friend

Mark, an American anchorman who comes to Cuba on two occasions, the second time to cover the pope's visit

Nicoletta, half-X——ian, half-Cuban, sent to Cuba by a Swedish firm

Querido Vecino!, the Tattlins' neighbor Rolf, Danish cultural attaché