Preface 

To My Son, Anthony Edward 


My son, soon you will turn twelve, the same age I was when I left Cuba on April 20, 1970. I have written this little book for you before my memories get so foggy that they lose their significance. Often when the sun rises, we forget the storm, and I don’t want my childhood experiences and the experiences of my family to die with me. I don’t want the past, good and bad, to be lost, so I have gathered these moments for you.

These memories and the memories of my family and our friends, which are inextricably interwoven with twentieth-century Cuban events, are the memoirs of your mom, a young Cuban girl who was born in the City of Parks, Holguín, Oriente, Cuba, during the most exciting revolution of the twentieth century, a revolution intended to restore democratic free elections to the Republic of Cuba.

Despite the original democratic intent behind the Revolution, I lived the first twelve years of my life under a communist government because the Revolution was stolen by one of our own. Perhaps the only gifts that I received from living in communist Cuba were that I learned at a young age to think for myself and not follow the herd, to hold my head up with dignity, and refuse to allow names to hurt me, for labels only harm if you let them stick to you.

My writings are a humble attempt to shed a true light on the nature of communism and its impact on my family and on all of Cuba; a true light on the nature of Fidel Castro, a ruthless man so many consider to be a champion of the poor; and a true light on the nature of the foreign, evil presence in Cuba, Ernesto Che Guevara, a killer whom so many revere as a freedom fighter. My writings are meant to show you and those who seek truth that Cuba under Fidel Castro is not the utopia the world has been enamored of for the last fifty years.

I love you, my son. You have made my life so complete. May you always live in liberty. May you remember that it only takes one man to take liberty away, one man to change the world for the worse or the better. Never underestimate how observant and smart children are, how important it is for them to be told the truth, and how a child can be perceptive of injustice when adults are blind. Never engage in class warfare and never let anyone plant the seed of hate in your heart, for I know what hate can lead to. It can even bring down a republic.

Love,

Mom

© Lights Out: A Cuban Memoir of Betrayal and Survival
    Dania Rosa Nasca