A Cuban should know better.
Back in 1959, Cuba needed a change —but Fidel Castro was not that change. Decades later, around 1994, I conceded to a friend that Venezuela, too, needed a change. But I warned her that Hugo Chávez was not the answer. She didn’t agree. Twenty years later, sometime in 2014, I found myself trapped in a similar conversation, this time it was about the U.S.A. Again, I agreed about the need for a change. But, again, the warning signs hit me cold and hard. And, again, I could not hide my fears. Donald Trump was not that change. Period. Sure, I will not agree with an American who supports Trump, but I understand why they might. An American knows little to nothing about the aftermath of the 1959 Cuban Revolution. An American didn’t experience Chavez' rise to power. Americans have no frame of reference for what happens when a leader promises salvation, only to tighten his grip once he grabs power by the neck. But a Miami Cuban born and raised in Cuba? C'mon! A Cuban should know better. A Cuban should know what a dictator looks like. A Cuban should know by heart that a dictator doesn’t seize power overnight — he wins people over first with empty promises, resentment, and hatred — a hatred so deep, so blinding, that it drags the past into the future. A dictator promises to turn the have-nots into the have-it-all. He claims they’ve been robbed, that the system is rigged against them. He guarantees that he alone can make things right. He doesn’t offer slow, steady progress—he promises immediate transformation. And to do it, he demands absolute loyalty. A Cuban should know this story by heart. A Cuban should recognize when history begins to repeat itself—when a leader rises by fighting a nonexistent enemy, by making grand promises, by demanding unwavering faith. A Cuban should know that a man who tells the have-nots they will have it all is always planning to take everything for himself. So while I can understand why an American, raised in a stable democracy, might not recognize the warning signs, I cannot understand why a Cuban—someone who has seen this play out before — would ever support a leader who follows the same dangerous path.
A Cuban should know better, for sure.
Wilfredo Dominguez /2024
