October 20, 2021 • 30 mins
Lily and Emilio share their harrowing stories of living under and escaping the Communist dictatorship in Cuba. Actor Laz Alonso comes to the table to explain the current unrest and crisis in Cuba. Marta Ferrer has not heard from her father, a prominent critic of the Cuban regime, since July 11. Exiled Cuban musician Yotuel, one of the voices behind a powerful protest anthem, comes to the table and performs, “Patria y Vida,” with Gloria and Emily.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Bienvenidos and Gloria Stefan. Here you are listening to Red
Table Talk via Stephens Podcast, all your favorite episodes from
our Facebook watch show in audio. Whatever you may think
is happening in Cuba is a lie. This is an
urgent call to action looking what people have been silenced
(00:20):
so many years. There is no freedom of speech. We
were afraid to put our families in jeopardy by raising
our voices. Here we are asking you to listen, learn
and care. This is about humanities, about you know, people
are suffering. Our homeland is hurting. There's nothing left to lose.
(00:40):
People are dying on the street. They're not afraid anymore.
Just one hour by playing from here where we are
sitting right now, ninety miles off the coast of Florida,
Horrific atrocities are happening to people we love in the
country we're from, Yea. For sixty two years, the people
(01:05):
of Cuba have been denied basic human rights. Just three
months ago, on July eleven, Cubans reached their breaking point
and thousands took to the streets to demand freedom. Cuban
authorities responded swiftly and violently to the unprecedented uprising, beating
(01:27):
and jailing peaceful protesters and ripping citizens from their homes.
Hundreds of demonstrators remain in custody today. Others are missing
and distraught. Loved ones are desperate for answers. My question
to you is why should you care? Cuba is a
(01:48):
cautionary tale to me, ladies, and I think that it
is so important to safeguard the things that make democracy strong,
like respect for differences of opinions, different points of view.
I'm gonna tell you right now, I'm looking forward to this.
I think it's important for a variety of reasons. I
left you. But when I was literally two and a
(02:09):
half years old in May of nineteen sixty, I was
brought to the United States because my father was a
police officer for the Cuban government. The night of the
coup that Fidel Castro took over power, my father came
home and he told my mother were in trouble. The
president just left the country, and she said, don't go back.
They're going to arrest you. And he says, I have
to go back. My job is to protect the Cuban people,
(02:32):
and it's mayhem in the streets. His father, who was
a commander in the army and him were jailed. They
let him go about three to four months later, and
he told my mother, I have to get you out
of Cuba because this is going to get very bad.
They knew who Fidel Castro was, what was coming. My
father left Cuba. He went took you west. My mother
(02:52):
and I came through panamairlines. I have the round trip tickets.
Still you left when you were older, right, Prima, Yes, Mama,
there are so many memories I have, you know, all
my childhood. What was that like? Well, this is a
very good show for me to say that this accent
is real. Let's wait, by the accent is real. This
(03:17):
is Cuban on the rocks and Cuban by birth. And
that means that I was born in communism, a life
totally different from what I've been able to give to
my kids. I was born in a place where there
is no freedom of speech. You are told how to think,
what to say, and what to believe. You are taught
(03:41):
from a very doctrination age that Fidel is a commander
in chief. Another i'm older, I realized that the whole
island is like a military base for those watching every
neighborhood in Cuba has a snitch tell me about the
committed family and your block that is called every week
(04:05):
you have to take turns. There's a neighbor or maybe
three neighbors that the whole night they have to walk,
like if there were police neighborhood watch here in the
neighborhood watch. But not for a good thing, not to
the citizens, to tell on the citizens. That is how
they can reach their hands and find out everything that's
(04:25):
going on. If you have too many people come into
your house to talk, if they smell food that's cooking,
that is not what is being given to everyone, they
snitch on you. Yeah, the way you dressed, the people
who you hung with, they are always checking up on
you always. And I remember specifically um a T shirt
(04:48):
with candies, as she tells every one of us, if
you want candies, do you pray to God that you
get candies? Whoever? Cause like this, Yes, I pray to God.
They know exactly what's going on at home. With religion,
because in Cuba there's no religion. The only religion is Fidel.
That's your religion. The government. If you say, do you
(05:11):
pray to Fidel and you get Candice. Everybody's like, yes, Fidell,
thank you for the candy. Manipulation Cuba. It's all about control,
obedience and the humanization. When I went to school, everyone
wore the same uniform, and the uniform has a handkerchief
(05:32):
with the colors of the flag that you were around
your neck. If one of the kids was not wearing
the handkerchief, something wrong was going on in the house.
They would take away that handkerchief because of your parents,
and you would just be humiliated, isolated because you would
stand out right away, and as as kids, you would
(05:54):
look at them different. We didn't know any better. My
father knew that if he would talk about something against
the government, it was gonna be bad for me. So
I grew up really thinking that the communist system was
the right way for me. Was normal. When did the turn,
I must have been thirteen and a half. A few
months before getting out of Cuba, my mother passed away.
(06:18):
She took her life because yeah, uh, desper it's just finished.
And after that, it was on a Mother's Day when
my father sat me down. I will never forget night.
He says, guys, there's an opportunity for you and your
brother to get out of Cuba, Are you guys willing?
(06:41):
How do you make those decisions when you're thirteen. That's
one of the biggest problems with the communist regime. They
have separated families, and I think this is one of
the why we wanted to take this show, because we
want to do anything to reunite these families again. Well,
you know, we can't have the conversation without your dad,
(07:02):
your uncle, my beautiful baby joining us at the table.
How are you You have a very impactful story of
why you even left cub But because you left with
your father to Spain, people didn't know how many horrible
things they did to people. I was eleven years old
when they came to my house looking for dollars because
the castle decided to change their money. It doesn't matter
(07:24):
whatever you used to have. You only was allowed to
change only two dollars to give a new passos. I
saw how they come into the house, being eleven years old.
The militaries were gone, and there was all over the
place and pushing my mom, and they took my dad
to you know, to the room and said where's the dollars?
We don't have nothing here and said okay. They look around.
That's they went straight to the safe and say, okay,
(07:45):
open the safe. My dad got nervous, he can open
the safe ahead like biggest plushion and they blow out
the whole wall and they didn't find nothing. So that
night I cried on now I wake up in the morning,
I told my mama and living four years later was
almost military age. They told us that we was live
because my mom family was from Spain, and I cried
from when I left Cuba. My mom told me, don't
(08:06):
even look back when you're living, because you know, one
of the hard things for me, it's where my grandfather
and my uncle's give me a photograph and said remember
me because we'll never see you again. And did you
ever see them again? I never saw them again. Arriving
in Spain with my dad. I hugged my dad when
I landed and I said, my dad, do I did
the rather decision to be positive? We need to get
(08:27):
your family out. My only goal in life was to
bring my family back to freedom, and you did that,
so thank you. Thirteen years later, now living in Miami,
married to me with our first baby on the way,
Emilia finally figured out a way to get Lily her
brother and father out of Cuba. He tried in so
(08:48):
many different ways to get you and your father and
your brother out after your mother had passed. I remember, um,
when my father told me that you were risking your
life to save us. We had no money to speak of.
He got in a twenty boat. You don't get in
(09:08):
the ocean. Two of these tables, none of them knew
what they were doing. What they did is run out
of gas. For ten days. They were lost at sea.
And all I kept hearing through the news was the
name of their boat was Popeia, but there was other ones,
and they said there's been a Popella lost a see,
and I'm going on, I'm pregnant here. I don't know
what's happening. You know, through the years, I never hardly
(09:30):
talked about this because people won't believe this. You will
know when you have kids in the future, what you
do for your family. The only thing we do is
try to save our family to be in a free country.
So we spend six days without eating, a hardly drinking
any water. And then when I get there, I said,
your family, the boats was small, you cannot be able
to bring them back. Oh my gosh, I hear my brother,
I'm so happy, we're free. We're free. I say, I'm
(09:51):
so sorry. Then what happened on here? And oh my god, guys,
you just feel hopeless. Then you're in school, what was happening?
And I remember the director sitting me down and telling
me we have gotten information that your father is in
(10:12):
contact with the family in the United States, and you
guys are trying to get out. If you're grateful to
the government, you would stay. We will support you, We
will give you everything that you need. You don't need
to leave. We couldn't get Lily out through the boat lift.
Months later we were able to get visas and we
(10:34):
took the responsibility for them. I remember looking around knowing
that I was never ever going back. I never never
processed it. Fami, Lily and Stephan, that little girl from
Santiago de Cuba. But who I am now, La Flaca
is the American dream. It is two different people, and
(10:56):
I've never had a chance to talk about to thank
you for you letting him go and you risking your
life to save mine, my father's and my brothers. I
have worked so hard for you guys to be proud.
We are proud of you. In vain. It was not
(11:17):
in vain. It's the best thing to happen in my life.
I do. I'm just so overcome with emotion right now,
like sitting and seeing you guys and hearing this, because
my life wouldn't be possible without you, without these stories.
It's a lot of stories that people didn't know because
we didn't have internet. And that's what this moment is historical.
We have millions of people that they punished, millions of
(11:40):
people that they don't horrible things that you know, something
nobody knew. How many times we've been in front of
the Pope of the King, so the Queen of England
and you talked to about Cuba and they think Cuba
is beautiful. Cuba's beautiful, but what they're doing to the
Cuban people's not beautiful. The government there is very very
worried about the Internet. And then rather than hiding, we
need to use that because we waited sixty two years
(12:03):
cast the change the life of so many people, and
I have used so many things. You'll see only one
percent of the abuse that I happened in Cuba. He
was never elected as a president. He was a dictator.
To put it in perspective. You have to realize that
in the last sixty two years that would have one
dictatorship in Cuba, the United States has had twelve different
(12:25):
precedents chosen by the people for the people. Human people
are asking for food, They're asking for freedom, for free,
for freedom. What. I'm so proud of the people that
ninety years old, eighty five years old, they're still fighting
and they want to see Cuba free. They have nothing
left to lose. I'm so glad that we're doing the
(12:46):
show because you know, people need to know the truth exactly.
I believe in Cuban people, the menuted to give the tools,
who have business and to make the money. Like the
exiled people when they came to this country, we lost everything.
I only have one pen. I didn't have the money
even for one Sho was said, you know something, we
work hard for that. You want to see a generation
in Cuba that we want to feel very proud. I'm
very proud of you all, and I thank you for
(13:08):
thank you for being at the table, Babe. It is
so important to speak the truth about what's really happening
in Cuba. Las Alonzo's video explaining the crisis in Cuba
went viral. There's a genocide going on right now. They
are currently shooting protesters which started off as non violent,
(13:28):
passive protesters who, for the first time in sixty two years,
said enough is enough. Las Alonzo, the start of the
hit series The Boys, the Avatar franchise and Fast and
Furious Six, was raised by his Cuban mother. They share
a passion for their roots and a deep concern for
the Cuban people. If you want to know what's wrong
(13:49):
with people, listen to them. Cubans are crying and dying
for freedom. I even reposted it because I was so impressed. Las.
Your video opened up a lot of eyes to the
horrors of what life in Cuba is really like. What
inspired you to post it? First of all, thank you
(14:11):
so much for sharing your platform with me. At the
time when everything broke out, As I was reposting what
was happening, I was getting tons of phone calls and
d MS from all of my friends asking me what's
going on. And that's when I realized that there was
something being lost in translation, that the people here had
no idea what our brothers and our sisters and our
(14:34):
mothers in Cuba were saying. It was important at that
point to step in and to translate those voices, not
to speak from my position of privilege here, but to
simply take what they were saying and translated to my audience.
I was so happy when I saw your post, and
(14:54):
I thought, I can't believe that last alone Soo was
not born in Cuba and you spoke from their heart.
How are you still connected to what's going on in
the island right now? Well, listen, really, I'm so connected
that you already had me in tears with your story.
Oh my god, I wasn't familiar with all of it,
so please don't make me cry on It's the table, right,
(15:21):
the reflection of the light on the red, it affects
the eyes. You know, my family didn't immigrate to the
United States. They were running for their lives. My mother
almost lost her life during the small amount of time
that she was in Cuba when the Castro regime took over.
There was a woman in her town that had her
same first and last name and was an informant for
(15:44):
the Batista regime, and they thought it was my mother,
and so they came in looking for her, and they
were gonna hang her in front of her town to
make an example out of her of what happens when
you speak against them. Thankfully, the family that she was
working for at the time, they smuggled her out with them.
(16:05):
I heard these stories growing up over and over and
over and over again. What are some of the messages
that you think will universally help us unite and that
we can keep pushing forward on social that's a great question.
We need to focus on the human rights violations, the genocide,
the systemic oppression that is happening to the people of Cuba.
(16:26):
If we focus on the human beings that are they're
suffering and continue to show it to the world, it
is very difficult to ignore that, regardless of what side
of the political spectrum you stand on, that that human being,
it's in a hospital on a chair because there are
no beds, that the floor in that hospital is flooded
with water, and not only do they not have needles,
(16:49):
but they don't even have alcohol swaps, they don't have sheets,
they don't have aspirin, they don't have the most basic things.
There are hospitals that are fully stopped there, but they're
for tourists. I think it's important that we continue to
demystify because there have been a lot of big lies.
A good health care system non existent for the Cubans,
(17:10):
great for the tourists, education which is indoctrination of the children.
I think that it's important also to point out that
there's another dirty secret, a word within our community, which
is kadeta or because it applies to both genders. You know,
when you get paid anywhere between eighteen and thirty bucks
a month, regardless of what job you do, you will
(17:32):
go to whatever length you will to be able to
afford food for your family and for a lot of Cubans, unfortunately,
that has meant sexual tourism, making themselves available for tourists
who come to the country to have a good time.
A lot of times that's with children. It's part of
the dirty little secret of that regime that these tourists
(17:54):
come and that's how a family can afford to put,
you know, an extra couple of chickens on the table
for the month. And it has psychologically, you know, beaten
down an entire uh segment of our community. People don't
really understand why now they're hearing all of this and
they haven't heard it for the last sixty two years.
(18:16):
They've heard this beautiful, romanticized version of cigars and fifties
cars and people smiling and singing in the streets in Cuba.
And a big reason is we were afraid to put
our families and jeopardy by raising our voices here. It's
easy to talk against the government here, what about our
relatives that have to deal with it every day back home.
(18:38):
What's happening right now is a re education of people,
and that includes people that had no clue that the
only thing they were educated about Cuba came directly from
the regime. And now finally they're seeing the truth absolutely.
Thank you, last, thank you for joining us. Thank you.
(18:59):
This is a desperate time for all Cubans who live
in constant fear. Many are trying to find missing family
members and the pain of not knowing is unbearable. Ferrer's father,
Jose disappeared on July eleventh while peacefully protesting. She has
not heard from him since. Stas to our from Grandi,
(19:29):
the opposition as doo, that's to participle, jo your own
(19:53):
se correct connel, protestas and protectano Casa Caro patriots. A
moment sum then Manuel alascemana lost One month after his arrest,
(20:25):
MARTA's family was informed her father would be spending four
years in prison. But they do not know where he
is being held or even if he's still alive. And
too same as present lot in Karna or and I said,
(20:59):
and the same you know they in Cuba. When her
(21:26):
daughter was only a year old, Martha made the difficult
decision to stay in the United States, where she could
support her family much better than she ever could in Cuba.
Fatima is under her grandmother's care, while Martha dreams of
the day she can bring her to the United States.
Until then, she says, the Cuban government has blocked her
from seeing her little girls. Said no momento marire ermano
(22:02):
like j and the firm in confirmsa combo Carlo Caminol
is joining US now from Cuba. Jose x Mosque riesco
(22:24):
party program kis the sill almundo estavila persone programa sale
Facebook watch port no like Louana no tanto the persona
(22:48):
comoll protect and momento provincetow marisala persona last sampoo contra
military intent returna concina. The is a pressing yes so
(23:14):
one of Jose look master for my presso persim not
cela songs completa President Nato a convention, the Calorio condition
(23:45):
to complain humane condition, a condition form no like Jose
(24:25):
Marta por comparati victoria contros esperamos ramo sim preque possible
israelmente roico WHOA that was heavy, that was me, that
(24:49):
was me thea and I know with no and thank
God you you were able to be with your kids. Flagger.
It's brutal. When Fidel castroke power in nineteen fifty nine,
his slogan for the Cuban people was Patria mote, which
means homeland or death. A group of Cuban artists leading
the fight for freedom have turned that phrase on its
(25:12):
head in a song called Patria Vida or Homeland and Life.
One of the artists behind what has become the anthem
for the movement is joining us now. No, you cannot
(25:50):
just make whatever music you want in Cuba. Your music
is not even allowed. You cannot say what you want
to say. That is a gift that we have here
and if you do, you can be killed. You have
to put your life on the line for your art.
To Tennis Meal minamatrivida so well Gambola. No one policy
(26:37):
can look at us out control. And we want to
close with a tribute to everyone who is fighting for
(26:59):
liberty and freedom. Emily and I are honored to join
your twill in the first acoustic performance of padre Vida
lists ov You're gonna to be gone to the sea,
(27:40):
pork gone to those saving me space Yes, the senti
mento Yes, sanyah do menuis time to kiss this lea,
get the camina play soca yemo comari manida cello jus
(28:16):
to sink weary joo Center, tracado mio the particular come
out Pisa can be on the check Bana yamapoa intredu
you love full sea parao to s jo Yes, says Center,
(28:50):
Tracado to sell Yes says shut our burning chat our listening, Yes,
(29:47):
thanks for listening. To join the red Table Talk family
and become a part of the conversation, follow us at
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For more podcasts from My Heart visit the I heart
(30:09):
Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
Bienvenidos and Gloria Stefan. Here you are listening to Red
Table Talk via Stephens Podcast, all your favorite episodes from
our Facebook watch show in audio. Whatever you may think
is happening in Cuba is a lie. This is an
urgent call to action looking what people have been silenced
(00:20):
so many years. There is no freedom of speech. We
were afraid to put our families in jeopardy by raising
our voices. Here we are asking you to listen, learn
and care. This is about humanities, about you know, people
are suffering. Our homeland is hurting. There's nothing left to lose.
(00:40):
People are dying on the street. They're not afraid anymore.
Just one hour by playing from here where we are
sitting right now, ninety miles off the coast of Florida,
Horrific atrocities are happening to people we love in the
country we're from, Yea. For sixty two years, the people
(01:05):
of Cuba have been denied basic human rights. Just three
months ago, on July eleven, Cubans reached their breaking point
and thousands took to the streets to demand freedom. Cuban
authorities responded swiftly and violently to the unprecedented uprising, beating
(01:27):
and jailing peaceful protesters and ripping citizens from their homes.
Hundreds of demonstrators remain in custody today. Others are missing
and distraught. Loved ones are desperate for answers. My question
to you is why should you care? Cuba is a
(01:48):
cautionary tale to me, ladies, and I think that it
is so important to safeguard the things that make democracy strong,
like respect for differences of opinions, different points of view.
I'm gonna tell you right now, I'm looking forward to this.
I think it's important for a variety of reasons. I
left you. But when I was literally two and a
(02:09):
half years old in May of nineteen sixty, I was
brought to the United States because my father was a
police officer for the Cuban government. The night of the
coup that Fidel Castro took over power, my father came
home and he told my mother were in trouble. The
president just left the country, and she said, don't go back.
They're going to arrest you. And he says, I have
to go back. My job is to protect the Cuban people,
(02:32):
and it's mayhem in the streets. His father, who was
a commander in the army and him were jailed. They
let him go about three to four months later, and
he told my mother, I have to get you out
of Cuba because this is going to get very bad.
They knew who Fidel Castro was, what was coming. My
father left Cuba. He went took you west. My mother
(02:52):
and I came through panamairlines. I have the round trip tickets.
Still you left when you were older, right, Prima, Yes, Mama,
there are so many memories I have, you know, all
my childhood. What was that like? Well, this is a
very good show for me to say that this accent
is real. Let's wait, by the accent is real. This
(03:17):
is Cuban on the rocks and Cuban by birth. And
that means that I was born in communism, a life
totally different from what I've been able to give to
my kids. I was born in a place where there
is no freedom of speech. You are told how to think,
what to say, and what to believe. You are taught
(03:41):
from a very doctrination age that Fidel is a commander
in chief. Another i'm older, I realized that the whole
island is like a military base for those watching every
neighborhood in Cuba has a snitch tell me about the
committed family and your block that is called every week
(04:05):
you have to take turns. There's a neighbor or maybe
three neighbors that the whole night they have to walk,
like if there were police neighborhood watch here in the
neighborhood watch. But not for a good thing, not to
the citizens, to tell on the citizens. That is how
they can reach their hands and find out everything that's
(04:25):
going on. If you have too many people come into
your house to talk, if they smell food that's cooking,
that is not what is being given to everyone, they
snitch on you. Yeah, the way you dressed, the people
who you hung with, they are always checking up on
you always. And I remember specifically um a T shirt
(04:48):
with candies, as she tells every one of us, if
you want candies, do you pray to God that you
get candies? Whoever? Cause like this, Yes, I pray to God.
They know exactly what's going on at home. With religion,
because in Cuba there's no religion. The only religion is Fidel.
That's your religion. The government. If you say, do you
(05:11):
pray to Fidel and you get Candice. Everybody's like, yes, Fidell,
thank you for the candy. Manipulation Cuba. It's all about control,
obedience and the humanization. When I went to school, everyone
wore the same uniform, and the uniform has a handkerchief
(05:32):
with the colors of the flag that you were around
your neck. If one of the kids was not wearing
the handkerchief, something wrong was going on in the house.
They would take away that handkerchief because of your parents,
and you would just be humiliated, isolated because you would
stand out right away, and as as kids, you would
(05:54):
look at them different. We didn't know any better. My
father knew that if he would talk about something against
the government, it was gonna be bad for me. So
I grew up really thinking that the communist system was
the right way for me. Was normal. When did the turn,
I must have been thirteen and a half. A few
months before getting out of Cuba, my mother passed away.
(06:18):
She took her life because yeah, uh, desper it's just finished.
And after that, it was on a Mother's Day when
my father sat me down. I will never forget night.
He says, guys, there's an opportunity for you and your
brother to get out of Cuba, Are you guys willing?
(06:41):
How do you make those decisions when you're thirteen. That's
one of the biggest problems with the communist regime. They
have separated families, and I think this is one of
the why we wanted to take this show, because we
want to do anything to reunite these families again. Well,
you know, we can't have the conversation without your dad,
(07:02):
your uncle, my beautiful baby joining us at the table.
How are you You have a very impactful story of
why you even left cub But because you left with
your father to Spain, people didn't know how many horrible
things they did to people. I was eleven years old
when they came to my house looking for dollars because
the castle decided to change their money. It doesn't matter
(07:24):
whatever you used to have. You only was allowed to
change only two dollars to give a new passos. I
saw how they come into the house, being eleven years old.
The militaries were gone, and there was all over the
place and pushing my mom, and they took my dad
to you know, to the room and said where's the dollars?
We don't have nothing here and said okay. They look around.
That's they went straight to the safe and say, okay,
(07:45):
open the safe. My dad got nervous, he can open
the safe ahead like biggest plushion and they blow out
the whole wall and they didn't find nothing. So that
night I cried on now I wake up in the morning,
I told my mama and living four years later was
almost military age. They told us that we was live
because my mom family was from Spain, and I cried
from when I left Cuba. My mom told me, don't
(08:06):
even look back when you're living, because you know, one
of the hard things for me, it's where my grandfather
and my uncle's give me a photograph and said remember
me because we'll never see you again. And did you
ever see them again? I never saw them again. Arriving
in Spain with my dad. I hugged my dad when
I landed and I said, my dad, do I did
the rather decision to be positive? We need to get
(08:27):
your family out. My only goal in life was to
bring my family back to freedom, and you did that,
so thank you. Thirteen years later, now living in Miami,
married to me with our first baby on the way,
Emilia finally figured out a way to get Lily her
brother and father out of Cuba. He tried in so
(08:48):
many different ways to get you and your father and
your brother out after your mother had passed. I remember, um,
when my father told me that you were risking your
life to save us. We had no money to speak of.
He got in a twenty boat. You don't get in
(09:08):
the ocean. Two of these tables, none of them knew
what they were doing. What they did is run out
of gas. For ten days. They were lost at sea.
And all I kept hearing through the news was the
name of their boat was Popeia, but there was other ones,
and they said there's been a Popella lost a see,
and I'm going on, I'm pregnant here. I don't know
what's happening. You know, through the years, I never hardly
(09:30):
talked about this because people won't believe this. You will
know when you have kids in the future, what you
do for your family. The only thing we do is
try to save our family to be in a free country.
So we spend six days without eating, a hardly drinking
any water. And then when I get there, I said,
your family, the boats was small, you cannot be able
to bring them back. Oh my gosh, I hear my brother,
I'm so happy, we're free. We're free. I say, I'm
(09:51):
so sorry. Then what happened on here? And oh my god, guys,
you just feel hopeless. Then you're in school, what was happening?
And I remember the director sitting me down and telling
me we have gotten information that your father is in
(10:12):
contact with the family in the United States, and you
guys are trying to get out. If you're grateful to
the government, you would stay. We will support you, We
will give you everything that you need. You don't need
to leave. We couldn't get Lily out through the boat lift.
Months later we were able to get visas and we
(10:34):
took the responsibility for them. I remember looking around knowing
that I was never ever going back. I never never
processed it. Fami, Lily and Stephan, that little girl from
Santiago de Cuba. But who I am now, La Flaca
is the American dream. It is two different people, and
(10:56):
I've never had a chance to talk about to thank
you for you letting him go and you risking your
life to save mine, my father's and my brothers. I
have worked so hard for you guys to be proud.
We are proud of you. In vain. It was not
(11:17):
in vain. It's the best thing to happen in my life.
I do. I'm just so overcome with emotion right now,
like sitting and seeing you guys and hearing this, because
my life wouldn't be possible without you, without these stories.
It's a lot of stories that people didn't know because
we didn't have internet. And that's what this moment is historical.
We have millions of people that they punished, millions of
(11:40):
people that they don't horrible things that you know, something
nobody knew. How many times we've been in front of
the Pope of the King, so the Queen of England
and you talked to about Cuba and they think Cuba
is beautiful. Cuba's beautiful, but what they're doing to the
Cuban people's not beautiful. The government there is very very
worried about the Internet. And then rather than hiding, we
need to use that because we waited sixty two years
(12:03):
cast the change the life of so many people, and
I have used so many things. You'll see only one
percent of the abuse that I happened in Cuba. He
was never elected as a president. He was a dictator.
To put it in perspective. You have to realize that
in the last sixty two years that would have one
dictatorship in Cuba, the United States has had twelve different
(12:25):
precedents chosen by the people for the people. Human people
are asking for food, They're asking for freedom, for free,
for freedom. What. I'm so proud of the people that
ninety years old, eighty five years old, they're still fighting
and they want to see Cuba free. They have nothing
left to lose. I'm so glad that we're doing the
(12:46):
show because you know, people need to know the truth exactly.
I believe in Cuban people, the menuted to give the tools,
who have business and to make the money. Like the
exiled people when they came to this country, we lost everything.
I only have one pen. I didn't have the money
even for one Sho was said, you know something, we
work hard for that. You want to see a generation
in Cuba that we want to feel very proud. I'm
very proud of you all, and I thank you for
(13:08):
thank you for being at the table, Babe. It is
so important to speak the truth about what's really happening
in Cuba. Las Alonzo's video explaining the crisis in Cuba
went viral. There's a genocide going on right now. They
are currently shooting protesters which started off as non violent,
(13:28):
passive protesters who, for the first time in sixty two years,
said enough is enough. Las Alonzo, the start of the
hit series The Boys, the Avatar franchise and Fast and
Furious Six, was raised by his Cuban mother. They share
a passion for their roots and a deep concern for
the Cuban people. If you want to know what's wrong
(13:49):
with people, listen to them. Cubans are crying and dying
for freedom. I even reposted it because I was so impressed. Las.
Your video opened up a lot of eyes to the
horrors of what life in Cuba is really like. What
inspired you to post it? First of all, thank you
(14:11):
so much for sharing your platform with me. At the
time when everything broke out, As I was reposting what
was happening, I was getting tons of phone calls and
d MS from all of my friends asking me what's
going on. And that's when I realized that there was
something being lost in translation, that the people here had
no idea what our brothers and our sisters and our
(14:34):
mothers in Cuba were saying. It was important at that
point to step in and to translate those voices, not
to speak from my position of privilege here, but to
simply take what they were saying and translated to my audience.
I was so happy when I saw your post, and
(14:54):
I thought, I can't believe that last alone Soo was
not born in Cuba and you spoke from their heart.
How are you still connected to what's going on in
the island right now? Well, listen, really, I'm so connected
that you already had me in tears with your story.
Oh my god, I wasn't familiar with all of it,
so please don't make me cry on It's the table, right,
(15:21):
the reflection of the light on the red, it affects
the eyes. You know, my family didn't immigrate to the
United States. They were running for their lives. My mother
almost lost her life during the small amount of time
that she was in Cuba when the Castro regime took over.
There was a woman in her town that had her
same first and last name and was an informant for
(15:44):
the Batista regime, and they thought it was my mother,
and so they came in looking for her, and they
were gonna hang her in front of her town to
make an example out of her of what happens when
you speak against them. Thankfully, the family that she was
working for at the time, they smuggled her out with them.
(16:05):
I heard these stories growing up over and over and
over and over again. What are some of the messages
that you think will universally help us unite and that
we can keep pushing forward on social that's a great question.
We need to focus on the human rights violations, the genocide,
the systemic oppression that is happening to the people of Cuba.
(16:26):
If we focus on the human beings that are they're
suffering and continue to show it to the world, it
is very difficult to ignore that, regardless of what side
of the political spectrum you stand on, that that human being,
it's in a hospital on a chair because there are
no beds, that the floor in that hospital is flooded
with water, and not only do they not have needles,
(16:49):
but they don't even have alcohol swaps, they don't have sheets,
they don't have aspirin, they don't have the most basic things.
There are hospitals that are fully stopped there, but they're
for tourists. I think it's important that we continue to
demystify because there have been a lot of big lies.
A good health care system non existent for the Cubans,
(17:10):
great for the tourists, education which is indoctrination of the children.
I think that it's important also to point out that
there's another dirty secret, a word within our community, which
is kadeta or because it applies to both genders. You know,
when you get paid anywhere between eighteen and thirty bucks
a month, regardless of what job you do, you will
(17:32):
go to whatever length you will to be able to
afford food for your family and for a lot of Cubans, unfortunately,
that has meant sexual tourism, making themselves available for tourists
who come to the country to have a good time.
A lot of times that's with children. It's part of
the dirty little secret of that regime that these tourists
(17:54):
come and that's how a family can afford to put,
you know, an extra couple of chickens on the table
for the month. And it has psychologically, you know, beaten
down an entire uh segment of our community. People don't
really understand why now they're hearing all of this and
they haven't heard it for the last sixty two years.
(18:16):
They've heard this beautiful, romanticized version of cigars and fifties
cars and people smiling and singing in the streets in Cuba.
And a big reason is we were afraid to put
our families and jeopardy by raising our voices here. It's
easy to talk against the government here, what about our
relatives that have to deal with it every day back home.
(18:38):
What's happening right now is a re education of people,
and that includes people that had no clue that the
only thing they were educated about Cuba came directly from
the regime. And now finally they're seeing the truth absolutely.
Thank you, last, thank you for joining us. Thank you.
(18:59):
This is a desperate time for all Cubans who live
in constant fear. Many are trying to find missing family
members and the pain of not knowing is unbearable. Ferrer's father,
Jose disappeared on July eleventh while peacefully protesting. She has
not heard from him since. Stas to our from Grandi,
(19:29):
the opposition as doo, that's to participle, jo your own
(19:53):
se correct connel, protestas and protectano Casa Caro patriots. A
moment sum then Manuel alascemana lost One month after his arrest,
(20:25):
MARTA's family was informed her father would be spending four
years in prison. But they do not know where he
is being held or even if he's still alive. And
too same as present lot in Karna or and I said,
(20:59):
and the same you know they in Cuba. When her
(21:26):
daughter was only a year old, Martha made the difficult
decision to stay in the United States, where she could
support her family much better than she ever could in Cuba.
Fatima is under her grandmother's care, while Martha dreams of
the day she can bring her to the United States.
Until then, she says, the Cuban government has blocked her
from seeing her little girls. Said no momento marire ermano
(22:02):
like j and the firm in confirmsa combo Carlo Caminol
is joining US now from Cuba. Jose x Mosque riesco
(22:24):
party program kis the sill almundo estavila persone programa sale
Facebook watch port no like Louana no tanto the persona
(22:48):
comoll protect and momento provincetow marisala persona last sampoo contra
military intent returna concina. The is a pressing yes so
(23:14):
one of Jose look master for my presso persim not
cela songs completa President Nato a convention, the Calorio condition
(23:45):
to complain humane condition, a condition form no like Jose
(24:25):
Marta por comparati victoria contros esperamos ramo sim preque possible
israelmente roico WHOA that was heavy, that was me, that
(24:49):
was me thea and I know with no and thank
God you you were able to be with your kids. Flagger.
It's brutal. When Fidel castroke power in nineteen fifty nine,
his slogan for the Cuban people was Patria mote, which
means homeland or death. A group of Cuban artists leading
the fight for freedom have turned that phrase on its
(25:12):
head in a song called Patria Vida or Homeland and Life.
One of the artists behind what has become the anthem
for the movement is joining us now. No, you cannot
(25:50):
just make whatever music you want in Cuba. Your music
is not even allowed. You cannot say what you want
to say. That is a gift that we have here
and if you do, you can be killed. You have
to put your life on the line for your art.
To Tennis Meal minamatrivida so well Gambola. No one policy
(26:37):
can look at us out control. And we want to
close with a tribute to everyone who is fighting for
(26:59):
liberty and freedom. Emily and I are honored to join
your twill in the first acoustic performance of padre Vida
lists ov You're gonna to be gone to the sea,
(27:40):
pork gone to those saving me space Yes, the senti
mento Yes, sanyah do menuis time to kiss this lea,
get the camina play soca yemo comari manida cello jus
(28:16):
to sink weary joo Center, tracado mio the particular come
out Pisa can be on the check Bana yamapoa intredu
you love full sea parao to s jo Yes, says Center,
(28:50):
Tracado to sell Yes says shut our burning chat our listening, Yes,
(29:47):
thanks for listening. To join the red Table Talk family
and become a part of the conversation, follow us at
Facebook dot com, forward slash, red table Talk is stefans.
Red table Talk. Steffans is a product action of Westbrook
Studios in partnership with I Heart Radio's Michael Tura podcast Network.
For more podcasts from My Heart visit the I heart
(30:09):
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