So far as books about Cuba go, a fiction novel might be not individuals’s first selection. Nevertheless, Don’t Date Rosa Santos, a Younger Grownup guide by Cuban American creator Nina Moreno, is a should learn for these excited about studying about Cuba.
In Don’t Date Rosa Santos, a Gilmore Ladies meets Jane the Virgin love story, Rosa Santos desires to go to Cuba and finish her household’s curse. Nevertheless, her grandmother Mimi, who escaped years in the past on the sacrifice of her husband, forbids it.
Studying books about Cuba was not on the prime of my listing, however I selected this guide as a result of I associated to the primary technology conflicts. Up to now, Miami-born faculty pupil Rosa has solely identified her Cuban tradition by “the meals she ate…and tales from the bodega.” As a half Mexican American diaspora, I perceive her craving to really feel like she belongs in her nation of origin. Additional, I relate to Rosa’s diasporic guilt, and her “markers” of feeling Cuban: bettering her Spanish and visiting the homeland. Whereas I can go to Mexico at any time when I really feel prefer it, till lately Cubans who escaped couldn’t return residence.
At first, I believed the plot was a bit far-fetched: each Rosa’s grandfather and father had disappeared at sea? Then I refreshed myself on the well-known Elian Gonzalez story, and remembered that his mom had truly drowned at sea making an attempt to flee Cuba. On the time I couldn’t soak up the main points, however I at all times bear in mind the traumatized baby crying and screaming on nationwide tv.
A Cuban American Goes to Cuba
As soon as former President Obama opened sea journey between the U.S. and Cuba in 2015, Instagram was stuffed with American influencers’ ( in fact together with the Kardashians) posts of their travels. Obama himself went to Cuba in March 2016, and regardless of the Cuban authorities’s warning, urged Cubans to “look in direction of the long run.”
What about precise Cubans who had left the nation, or Cuban People that had by no means visited? How was their expertise going to Cuba? Don’t Date Rosa Santos tells the story of the poignant journey of a Cuban born in exile and her Cuban American daughter returning to their nation of origin. I didn’t perceive the heartache Cuba’s insurance policies trigger its individuals till I learn this guide. As a Mexican-Pakistani American diaspora, I grew up pondering the U.S. is the one place price dwelling. Now that I’m older I notice that many individuals live right here out of necessity first and desire second. They’re grateful to stay within the U.S., however would like to stay of their homeland and lift their youngsters there. Fortunately, I now respect this sentiment, as I’ve seen the distinctiveness different nations supply.
In typical Trump vogue, he reversed Obama’s Cuban-U.S. journey insurance policies. As lately as June four, 2019, Trump does what he is aware of greatest, and issued a ban on home and impartial sea journey to Cuba. Apparently, Cubans agree with the vacationer ban, based on their feedback on Folks.com’s Fb web page. This sentiment is echoed in Don’t Date Rosa Santos, the place Mimi says “issues by no means change for Cuba’s individuals…they care about tourism not the Cuban individuals who nonetheless undergo.”
The guide opened my coronary heart to the struggles of Cuban American immigrants and Cubans. I felt like I noticed Havana by studying the guide, not from seeing influencers’ Instagram posts. As a Muslim, after I consider refugees I instantly consider Syrians, Iraqis, Ethiopians, and many others. After studying this guide, I’ll remember the fact that there are additionally determined refugees from many different nations, together with Cuba and Venezuela.
You may nonetheless be taught by studying fiction books about Cuba. What I discovered from Don’t Date Rosa Santos is that all of us expertise the human situation of household, love and loss of life. Additionally, I discovered that Cuban individuals are robust and their group will at all times thrive and survive. Lastly, I love Cubans for acknowledging their nation wants enchancment. Though their present authorities desires to maintain them previously and is afraid of change and development, they are going to discover a technique to transfer ahead. Viva Cuba libre. Pa’lante.
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