Guillermo Márquez-Sterling
March, 2000, the whole world watched the political tug-of-war between Fidel Castro and the exiled Cuban community over a little rafter, Elian Gonzalez, who was the sole survivor of the perilous journey across the Florida Straits. The controversies surrounding the arrival of this little boy swept over Miami. In the midst of this highly charged political climate, people were falling in love, drug deals were going bad, and the Cuban elderly were dying, surrendering their dreams of returning to a Castro free Cuba.
Crossing Into the Land of Saints is a wonderful and realistic portrayal of a Cuban family, the Santeria religion, and the political and cultural differences within the exiled Cuban community. Meet the three generations of the Lopez-Zayas family as they struggle with the dying wish of the family’s matriarch, Cheita, to be laid to rest in her homeland. Cristobal, her brother, has agreed to honor Cheita's dying wish, sending the family into a stormy adventure. Roli is a young, humorous, Cuban American man who grew up in Boston, and finds himself seduced by a voluptuous and sensual Cuban waitress. Alina, Roli’s sister, becomes Cristobal’s partner, along with Roli, to bury Cheita in Cuba.
In order to realize Cheita's wish, the family must overcome their differences, the political tensions of that time, the stormy waters of the Florida Straits, and the dangerous Cuban military, which during the Elian Gonzalez controversy was on the hyper-alert against “unwanted” American influences.
Their journey back to Cuba, the land of saints, transforms this family in ways they could not foresee. Crossing Into the Land of Saints promises to take you along this journey, and transform you as well.
Guillermo Márquez-Sterling, whose parents were exiled at the start of Castro's revolution, traveled to Cuba for humanitarian reasons in March of 2000, during the Elian Gonzalez controversy. There he received first hand interviews from the Cuban people regarding their views about Castro, little Elian, and the political tensions between the two governments. Guillermo is a pastor in the United Church of Christ and he lives in Miami with his beautiful wife and three children.
Chapter 15 -- Guantanamera
Off the western coast of Cuba, in the Province of Pinar del Rio, there exists a small fishing town of Güanes. Julián Espinosa was walking with his ten-year-old son, Juliansito, to the dock where his fishing boat had been tied up for the past two days. The sun was beginning to rise, and the birds of the area were announcing its arrival. The proud song of two hundred roosters crowing, and of one thousand birds chirping served as the town’s alarm clock every morning.
“Papá, do you think the storm moved the lobster cages?”
“Ya veremos, we will see,” Julián responded.
His son was always full of questions that could not be answered. Julián was not a very talkative man. Too many times he had seen people create their own problems by talking too much. Too many times it was better to keep silent. On that particular morning, Julián was lost in his thoughts. For the past two days the sea had been inhospitable. After two days of angry waters nobody knew what surprise awaited them.
“Buenos dias, Julián. Good morning,” a neighboring fisherman called out. He was smiling as he closed the door of his wooden home; a home very much like Julián’s and everyone else in the town. Güanes had houses that by Havana’s standards were considered to be very poor. Some of them had good electricity, most did not. Julián’s house, like most of the houses in his part of town, had a gas stove from the 1960’s. The poorer homes, the ones closer to the water, used wood burning grills in their back yards. Güanes was a town built several years before the Spanish American War. Back then; people did not forsee that it would become isolated from the neighboring cities. Large sums of money were invested to build the dock, which was probably the sturdiest structure in the entire province of Pinar del Rio. The houses were also very good, made of very good wood. These homes had withstood many hurricanes; but after one hundred-ten years, many were in dire need of expensive repairs. Yes, Güanes was a poor town, and they all had heard about the large mansions that adorn the streets of Havana, but Havana and its problems were very far away. Nobody from Havana ever came to visit and they never went to Havana to visit anyone.
“You seem happy, Buenavida. It’s good to be greeted by a smile,” Julián called back to his neighbor.
