Senator Marco Rubio has been the talk around every Cuban family dinner table of late, ever since the Washington Post turned up an interesting fact. Mr. Rubio immigrated to the United States in 1956, long before Raúl Corrales staged the famous photograph, La Caballería in 1960.
Mr. Corrales snapped the above photograph of flag waving revolutionaries riding into the United Fruit Company plantation, a United States owned company, long after the revolution had ended in 1959. The propaganda significance of this iconic photograph was huge.
Mr. Rubio campaigned for the office of Senator, as an exile of the brutal Castro regime. His speeches painted a heart wrenching picture of his family fleeing their native homeland because of political persecution. The propaganda significance of this imagery was huge.
My mother and I, Cuban exiles, arrived in Miami in the early 60’s with just a small suitcase to our name. I remember hiding under our bed in Havana, as bombs and bullets made an awful racket outside our apartment. I can also recall my grandfather hiding his service revolver in a huge bag of white rice anticipating a search on our building. My mother and grandfather have since passed on, as have many of those first generation Cuban immigrants. To their dieing day, the only regret my family members had, was not being able to return to their homeland.
Were I as fortunate as Mr. Rubio to achieve such high a post in the United States government, I would work to end the economic embargo against Cuba. Upon lifting this 50 year old embargo, I would ride into Havana on horseback, with tractor trailers full of much needed necessities following closely behind. The propaganda significance would be huge.
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Y hacia todas partes voy
Arte soy entre las artes
En los montes, monte soy