The Umbilical Cord

The Umbilical Cord / Rebeca Monzo
Posted on July 30, 2015

Rebeca Monzo, 25 July 2015 — The majority of Cuban emigrants, those of
the last three decades, seem to leave with the remains of their
umbilical cords hanging from their bodies.

They barely arrive, be it as wet foots or dry, by raft or by plane, and
just start settling in, but that they start asking their families who
stayed on the island for medicines, Vita Nova tomato sauce, dry wine and
other silly things. They don’t seem to realize they’ve arrived in
another country, which they themselves chose to start a new life, and
they try to continue depending on their families and friends with scant
resources, those they left behind.

Nor have they given any thought to the first emigrants from the sixties
and seventies, who were forced to put their whole lives into one
suitcase, and start from zero to open the way, alone, without any
contact with those they left behind, an era when it was absolutely
prohibited to have any kind of contact with those who decided to live in
a country where they spoke another language.

Emigrants of today seem to forget that medicine is scarce here and, in
addition, if you can find it you have to pay in CUC on the black market
where it’s available, or acquire it for hard currency in the few
pharmacies that exist in the city at astronomical prices. I think it
would be very convenient for everyone to assume with responsibility and
bravey the decisions made, and to detach themselves from the remains of
this appendage to which they are still attached, that limits their growth.

Source: The Umbilical Cord / Rebeca Monzo | Translating Cuba –
http://translatingcuba.com/the-umbilical-cord-rebeca-monzo/