LOCAL REACTION: For area Cubans, celebrating in the name of victims
Mijail Barzaga spent more than seven years in Cuban prisons, one of 75 dissidents jailed in a 2003 crackdown called Black Spring.
He had been a journalist, trying to investigate Fidel Castro and his regime, and was tossed behind bars, at times stuffed into a metal box so small he could barely breathe.
On Saturday, Barzaga, 49, celebrated Castro’s death with dozens of others in the Cuban diaspora in Houston. They blame the former Cu- ban leader for five decades of totalitarianism, economic and political strife, and cultural suppression.
“Cuba libre,” Barzaga chanted as a Cuban flag waved behind him at Cafe Piquet in southwest Houston.
Castro’s death comes at a time of transition for the country. A decade earlier, Castro ceded authority to his brother Raúl Castro. Then, two years ago, President Barack Obama restored diplomatic ties with Cuba and, earlier this year, he became the first American president
“He is dead and that is good. But the pain, the suffering, the scars and the martyrs remain. If there is a hell, may he rot for eternity.” Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Alberto Milian
to visit the country.
Each event inspired discussions — and heightened optimism — about Cuba’s future at Cafe Piquet, a gathering place for some of the 20,000 to 30,000 people of Cuban descent who live in the greater Houston area, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. A joke on the country
Nelly Piquet, the owner of the restaurant, hugged and kissed Cuban patrons as they arrived Saturday. She said she left Cuba at the age of 12, in 1962, and recalls how her father would call Castro a joke on the country.
She said she felt it was about time for the dictator to die, but she wouldn’t truly celebrate until the Cuban people acquired civil and human rights.
Piquet also lamented that her husband Guido, who opened the restaurant with her, hadn’t been able to witness the news. Friday, the day Castro died, was the 10th anniversary of Guido’s death. She said he had been on one of the last airlifts off the island during the Cuban missile crisis.
“Guido would have been partying all day out of happiness,” Piquet said, wiping away tears.
Jorge Ferragut, executive director of Casa Cuba (Cuba House), a Houstonbased social organization with strong anti-Castro sentiments, sipped on lemonade on the restaurant’s patio with a smile on his face.
He shared greater confidence in what Castro’s death means for his homeland.
“This is the first step for the liberation of Cuba,” Ferragut said. “The snake’s head has been severed.”
Ferragut said he was celebrating in the name of Castro’s victims.
Bill King, a businessman who ran against Mayor Sylvester Turner in 2015, understands why Cubans here have such strong feelings about Castro. He met the man once, in 1988, when he accompanied the late Congressman Mickey Leland on a mission to free political prisoners there. King had arranged the planes for the trip.
Castro was charismatic and funny and talked almost non-stop for three hours, waxing about Marxism, King said.
“He really believed if he could control everything, he could fix all the problems,” King said. Local trade ties
In the Houston area, leaders had been talking optimistically about bolstering local ties with Cuba. Harris County Judge Ed Emmett called Castro’s death symbolic and another step toward reform in a country that’s had one government for half a century.
Emmett, who visited Cuba earlier this year, said Cuba offers a big opportu- nity for economic and cultural exchange.
“We’re so close to each other,” he said. “Clearly, with the Panama Canal opening and the potential for global trade, Cuba is perfectly positioned to play a role.”
He said even the Guan- tanamo Bay naval base could be repurposed to play a “major role” in global trade, because of its proximity to the canal. Trade ties with the Houston area also could include Cuba buying natural gas and oil.
Emmett said the county would likely announce a new economic development initiative early next year, which could offer incentives for investment by American companies in Cuba and also Cuban investment in Harris County, though he declined to provide details. Real change a way off
Not everyone shares the optimism. Rafael Saumell, a professor of Spanish at Sam Houston State University, fled Cuba in 1988 after spending five years in prison for writing a collection of short stories deemed by the government to be evil propaganda, he said.
He said short visits by American politicians on Cuban soil would not change the situation there, with Raúl Castro still in power. Despite Fidel Castro’s death, real change, he said, is a long way off.
“An American flag in a foreign territory doesn’t mean there will be democracy,” Saumell said.
At the makeshift party at Café Piquet’s patio, Barzaga snapped photos on his point-and-shoot camera of friends singing along to Cuban songs. But he could only muster a half-smile.
Barzaga worries about what will happen now in Cuba, and whether there will be violent backlashes against the government.
“There were always some people who loved Fidel and still do, but no one loves Raúl,” he said.