IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 5 ENGLISH | Page 87

immigration agent upon entering the
U.S. and asking for asylum. Her case
was different, business, going back to
Cuba with American merchandise at a
better price and selling it to her usual
buyers.
She did that for a good while, but there
came a time when the authorities began
to limit the amounts that could be
brought in to Cuba, and to once again
charge and exaggerated amount, in
CUCs, on what little people could bring
in.
Yusemis does not think in terms of politics. She is not interested in them, but
she is irritated with this sudden, constant creation of more restrictions. It
reminds her of the terrible history of
feudalism she was taught at school. If
customs did this to protect local production, she might understand it a bit, but
fewer and fewer things are produced in
Cuba. “So, why prohibit people from
bringing the things that don’t exist?”
Even so, she kept up her routine; everything always sells because there is nothing in Cuba. In the end, she was feeling
increasingly more out of place in Cuba
than in Miami.

The closed environment and the constant suspicion among her friends bothered her. She began to see and sense
things differently than before, without
even realizing it.
Finally, she told the aunt with whom
she lives that she was not coming back;
not to worry, because she was leaving
her money and would send her more.
“After the last flight I took to Grand
Cayman (because the Bahamian blacks
mistreat you a lot when you stop there),
I stayed in Miami, and now I am here. It
hasn’t even been a year or even four
months since I stayed, but you have to
get away. One always learns to escape,
first from those people, and then from
the Americans. It’s about knowing how
to swim and storing your clothes so they
don’t get wet. I couldn’t have stayed
any longer without coming here. You
really miss this place. Everything is
crap and all, but you really miss it.”

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