IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 5 ENGLISH | Page 147

and reveal their disdain for one’s color,
origin, level of education and even our
way of dressing? Cuban identity has
been deteriorating for quite a while
now, due to economic, social, cultural
and even political factors that have shattered any notion of needing to be better.
This is not what one might want for
one’s self, but because there are no options with this centralized government;
it rules in favor of family members who
are now gray, “fought” for the revolution, and don’t want others to take their
place, according to them.

I am certain of one thing: the ruling
regime bears maximum responsibility
for everything that is happening, for the
deformed Cuban identity and its loss of
values, it meager desire to fight for
moral principles, despite knowing who
is the true and original culprit of all our
ills.
Anyone who is able to read this text
must reflect upon how abruptly the Cuban population’s identity has changed
over the Castro years. This will allow
him or her understand precisely what it
was that caused this transformati on in
our society. It is really quite simple: we
must remember that it is the people who
construct their own history, based upon
their beliefs and customs. If those in
charge keep us from fighting to maintain our own ideas, we succumb to its
aberrant desire destroy not only what is
good, but also what is right and, ultimately, what defines us.

Some of the features of our identity
include not only hospitality, but also the
love of rhumba and folklore, an ability
to innovate for survival, and the being
natural. There is also a desire not to be
submissive and quiet in facing those
who daily violate our rights, and a need
to once and for all raise our voices in a
defining way, to not be catalogued as
serfs or puppets or, worse yet, marionettes of the system.

If we were to cut evil at its very root
would solve our problems. As a great
musician once said: “Defend your identity, Cuban, so you are not compared.”
It is time for all Cubans to reconcile
ourselves for the benefit of one, shared
goal, no matter where we are, or what
we think. In the end, we have been denied a constitutional and inalienable
right for over fifty years.

I agree with the notion that a people can
be fooled part of the time, and that part
of the people can be fooled all the time,
but an entire people cannot be fooled all
the time. This brings to mind that slaves
said ‘enough’ and showed how much
can be achieved when there is union.
Knowing the origin of one’s people, the
way in which the first businesses, communities and industries cropped up,
would also help us know what and who
one is.

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