Cubano

I met a Cuban this week, and had a chance to talk with him for some time. This is what he told me.

He left Cuba to have an opportunity to see his children from time to time. His wife and he are divorced, and she now lives in Canada. The price of leaving Cuba is you lose the right to return, except to visit for 20 days now and then. If he stayed in Cuba, he would never see his children. If he left Cuba, he could never live there again.

He worked in Yemen and Russia for about a year, then came to Ecuador. He can work here legally, but can't find work. He can't emigrate to any other country. He can't get into Canada legally.

He says "I would rather live in a socialist country where the food is bad, but there is food for everyone. The work is bad, but there is work for everyone." He says that being cared for by the government is better than having no security at all.

I asked him where the government got its money. He said they sell sugar and other commodities and distribute the proceeds among the people. I asked if the people received their pay from the government and he told me they did. I asked if the people paid taxes and he said they do. I asked if there was corruption and he said yes, just like there is corruption everywhere.

He mentioned several times that he wanted to find a way to get to Mexico so he could enter the US illegally. I told him just as many times that that was very dangerous. My impression is he didn't want to stay in the US, he simply wanted to get to Canada to make a living and see his children.

Since it was clear he wanted to return to Cuba, I asked him if he couldn't enter Cuba illegally. He said it was impossible. You have to have documents to move from one state in Cuba to another. He said he has relatives in Miami who offered to help pay for a visa (to Canada?), but then didn't pay their half when the time came due. He said rich Cubans in Miami buy yachts and ferry relatives from Cuba to the US under the "dry foot wet foot" policy. He said he doesn't have any relatives with a yacht.

I have purposely written this entry without commentary. You may draw your own conclusions.