Dear mother, with so many words I use every day, I can’t find the best ones today to tell you how much I love you, how much I hug you and sit back on your feet and right on top of your heart and yours wants to hear feelings protected by your immeasurable love.
It’s been almost 20 years since you left and I’m still often confused. I think you are there and I run from where I am to tell you about my stuff or events of the day and I assume your reaction. Then I wake up from my confusion and although I don’t see you, I feel your presence.
Today I prefer to let myself be enveloped by my dreams and tell you as if you were you that you can continue to be proud of your children because they remain steadfast and loyal to the fatherland. I also tell you that my children, the two grandchildren whom you helped me to educate, are excellent professionals and behave sincerely and are consistent with the ideals that you and my father instilled in me.
I will never forget the stories that shaped me when we lived in misery, when we ate lots of salted cornmeal and your famous soups were praised by the whole family. I also learned, with the help of a midwife, that the house in which I was born was built of hollow wood, had a cement and earth floor, and consisted of only two rooms, in which my four brothers and I lived. Oh, and there were times when your sisters and their kids stayed late because they didn’t have an apartment.
Nor do I forget your sorrow because one of my brothers was persecuted by the henchmen of the Batista dictatorship for taking part in the secret struggle. And then, when the revolution triumphed, and I remember that, you and my father hugged and tears of joy shed. It so happens that on the first of January my brother was released from the Moncada garrison where they wanted to shoot him because they had caught him on a mission descending from the Sierra Maestra days earlier. That day, or perhaps the next day, the sun was an accomplice to people’s happiness, for despite my few years, it emanated a brilliant reddish light.
Mother, a lot has happened. We went through a terrible pandemic and thanks to Cuban Health we managed to defeat it with vaccines developed by our scientists; There were natural disasters, landslides, fires and at the same time the North American empire tightened the blockade. You are not here today to see the difficult situation in which the Cubans find themselves, and some others, encouraged by the siren song, have taken refuge in the bosom of those who want to exterminate us. But the vast majority resist because of their natural fidelity to history.
Mom, I know that even if today I can’t touch you or hug you like I used to, I won’t cry because you do and you continue to accompany me in all my endeavors. We will follow your example as an indomitable fighter in defense of our work. I confess that in the face of sorrow and success, I always feel your presence. I love you mama.