Cuban Rafter 1994 is the story of my escape from the island by raft in August 1994, after many unsuccessful attempts, and even being jailed for it. Cuba, in the midst of severe lack of rights and freedoms, as well as all kinds of food and material goods, was on the verge of a social outbreak. After the so-called Maleconazo riots in the streets of Havana, the government opened the country's borders to allow emigration by our own means, called the "Rafters' Crisis". Desperate, thousands of families undertook this odyssey - full of risks, in precarious boats and saturated with unknown dangers - to Miami.
This is the stark tale of a 53-week expedition to freedom. After being picked up by the American Coast Guard, following three days of navigation, we were interned in the Naval Bases of Guantanamo and the Panama Canal for many months, being victims of an unjust and endless prison, lacking immigration status and stripped of all rights, surrounded by cruel uncertainty, without family contacts or legal representation.
Life in those camps, a scenario in which more than 34,000 beings suffered an abominable caging, the five months in Panama, where uncertainty and frustration caused the most brutal and violent protests against the innocent soldiers who were guarding us. I also describe the interactions of refugees and the military in schools, hospitals, churches and all the infrastructure created to try to make our prison more bearable, barely floating in an ocean of political maneuvers by both governments and the Cuban exile, trying to free us.
A first-hand account of the cruelty of the Cuban dictatorship, of the vile homage paid by Bill Clinton to the blackmail of our former infamous tyrant, during the most overwhelming resurrection journey from hell. Undoubtedly, an unnecessary punishment I would be willing to face a thousand times, to conquer the tangible freedoms of a vibrant and full democracy like the one I enjoy today with my family.
