Cuban Rhapsody
The journalist was kicked out of his university in Cuba because of his anti-government views when he was younger, and life had been difficult ever since. This year he was able to move to the United States with his wife and child, and meet the young people who supported him. Sinkovitz did not want his name used for fear of retaliation against his family back home. Call him Rogelio.
Raices de Esperanza was launched about five years ago by Cuban-American college students determined to inspire this kind of passion for Cuba. The 10 national chapters are dedicated to bringing together young people around the country together, in support of their generational counterparts on the island. They held an annual Cuba Conference on April 2-5; the 300 students and young professionals who turned up represented the best-ever turnout. Actor Andy Garcia was the keynote speaker at the conference, which featured a series of panels and workshops.
Yoani Sanchez, a Cuban blogger living in and writing about the island, spoke of her hopes for the group in an audio/video recording. Usually they have live conferences, but because of Sanchez’s growing popularity among U.S. blog readers, such contact could have been very dangerous for her and her family. Said Sinkovitz: “[We wanted] something that wasn’t political, something that could bring together young people from different backgrounds, interests, activities. Basically to say that the Cuba issue is not a Cuba issue, it’s a human issue. You don’t have to be Cuban-American and you don’t have to be from the island to support young people on the island who want to enjoy the liberties and freedom that people all over the world have, especially in Western nations.”
After the Cuban Revolution in 1959, which toppled the Batista government and brought Fidel Castro to power, Castro took complete control of the lives, institutions, and industries in Cuba. Businesses, farms, and even religious properties were nationalized. People were forced to comply with what the Stalinist government wanted, thought, and taught.
As this history was “rewoven and rewritten,” Sinkovitz and his family escaped to New Jersey in the late 1960s. His mother was born in Havana, and left the island with her parents when she was four. Nathalie Marcos, a founder of the Raices chapter at the University of Miami, said her family escaped at the same time. Both said that, as first-generation Cuban-Americans, they and the organization have a unique sympathy for humanitarian issues in Cuba. They can use their distance from the island and their distance from the suffering they heard of in their childhood to their advantage.
“For us it’s easier to talk about it,” Marcos said. “For someone directly connected to the island, who’s lost everything…” “…Their family, their friends, their life…“ Sinkovitz added. “…You have this betrayal, and this nostalgia that’s so direct and it’s hard to see things any other way,” Marcos continued. “But we on the other hand are outside and can see the whole situation and look at it more from the human rights perspective. We try to focus on the similarities, focus on what we agree on and what we can accomplish.”
Along with conference calls, sending relief aid, and other humanitarian work, Raices also connects young Cuban-American professionals in a social network to help each other with their careers and event planning. Sinkovitz, who works as an analyst for Credit Suisse, is the head of the New York chapter of Raices’ Young Professionals Networking (YP) group. He keeps a database of Cuban-Americans in the city and e-mails updates about local Cuban-themed events.
Marcos and Sinkovitz agreed, however, that the conference calls with Cuban dissidents have meant the most to the organization, as they can finally get answers on what Cuba is like today. Ironically, because information on the island is so limited, the young Cubans they contact want to talk about the everyday lives of Raices members instead of Cuba. “They don’t get the same news we do,” Marcos said. “They want to know, even, ‘Do you go out? What do you do? Do you go with friends? What kind of music do you listen to? What do you read? What kind of classes do you take? You get to study what you want. They ask ‘I want to do film. Where can I get information on how to do a documentary?’”
Marcos said she couldn’t provide any information on how the calls are conducted or when the next one will be, nor with whom. If any information were to leak to the Cuban government, they would be set back immensely. Sometimes, the young Cuban will say frankly: “I can’t tell you that, someone is listening.”
“We want to show that this is an individual, this is a student, they’re like you and I,” Sinkovitz said. “Maybe they were in a class, they brought up this point, and they were incarcerated because of it.” Although Raices is growing each year, Marcos cannot say how the program will be in five years. She thinks its future, like its past, is dependent on Cuba. Marcos and Sinkovitz are waiting for the era after the Castro brothers, when Raices can really begin its work on the island, instead of just by phone or video conference.
They want bring programming, networking, and support from the United States. One initiative is Cell Phones 4 Cuba, a foundation started by Raices that collects refurbished cellphones and sends them to the island. Although Raul Castro recently allowed Cubans to have cell phones, most Cubans cannot afford one. “We are looking forward to the day when we can actually sit at a table and say, ‘This is what it has been like for me, how has it been for you?’” Sinkovitz said. “‘And: how can we help each other?’”
Further Roots of Hope information is available at: http://www.raicesdeesperanza.org/
