New citizen ‘VERY HONORED’
Cuban-born 103-year-old is newly minted American
It’s a journey that took 103 years, but Eva Saumell Del Castillo on Monday took the oath of citizenship and was officially welcomed as a new citizen of the United States. “I am very honored,” she said, speaking through a translator at the Albuquerque offices of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Life was idyllic growing up in Cuba on a small farm in a small town where her father owned a convenience-type store and made a modest living. The family later moved to the city of Manzanillo where he had other business interests.
It wasn’t until Fidel Castro’s revolution consumed the country in 1958 that she began to think about moving to the United States, “but I didn’t know how or in what manner,” she said. “Living in a communist country was terrible. I left Cuba because of all the chaos and the dictatorship.” And because it was dangerous. Her niece, whom she raised, Yamila Saumell Naranjo, was a writer, poet and journalist. She operated a newspaper that was critical of Castro’s revolution and its human rights abuses. The regime, Saumell Naranjo said, persecuted her and made death threats against her, and endangered the rest of her family, she said.
In 2010, Saumell Naranjo and her children came to the United States as political refugees. They
immediately began efforts to bring Saumell Del Castillo to the U.S., and in 2013 succeeded.
Saumell Del Castillo was born in 1917. Half a world away, the Czar of Russia abdicated and was replaced by a communist revolution. World War I was raging, and the Spanish flu was about to storm across the globe, infecting an estimated 500 million people and killing up to 50 million.
For the last seven years, Saumell Del Castillo has been witness to life in the United States, which she described as “a dream” compared to living under Castro.
On Monday she became the first member of her immediate family in the United States to become a U.S. citizen. Her niece and her niece’s children, who were present for the ceremony, said they hope to take the oath soon.
Because of her age, the USCIS worked to make Saumell Del Castillo’s citizenship occur as quickly as possible, said Michael Smith, director of the USCIS Albuquerque field office.
Monday was also a first for Smith. In his 12 years with the service, and prior assignments in Denver, Louisville, Memphis and Buffalo, and witnessing thousands of people taking the oath of citizenship, Saumell Del Castillo was the first one over age 100 to take the oath in his presence.
“It’s very unusual, so we tried to make it special,” he said.
And for a smiling centenarian-plus, holding a miniature U.S. flag, colorful balloons and her certificate as a newly minted American, it was no doubt about as special as it gets.