On June 15, 2004, Harry and I interviewed José Juves, who fled Cuba when he was seventeen years old in 1961. Jose immediately came to the state of New York in the U. S. where he finished his high school education, before moving to Puerto Rico to live with the rest of his family who had also fled Cuba. After engineering school in Puerto Rico, he came to Pittsburgh in 1967, where he legally became a U.S. citizen. I interviewed José and Harry took notes on his laptop which I later edited into this interview.
Mya
How long have you been in the United States?
José
Well I left Cuba in 1961 when I was seventeen years old. It was right
before the Bay of Pigs Invasion and Fidel had already been in power for
two years. Things were getting progressively worse. The government was
taking over everything. My family left because we felt it was the best
thing. I left there and came to the United States to live in New York
with an uncle. There I went to a small high school to finish my secondary
education. I left Cuba in March and graduated in May. All of the classes
were fairly easy. I never had a grade probably...lower than a 99. High
school here was easier than high school in Cuba. After I graduated, I
went to Puerto Rico to live with the rest of my family who had also fled
Cuba.
Mya
So how did you end up in Pittsburgh?
José
I got an engineering degree in Puerto Rico. If I wanted to shoot people
I would have stayed in Cuba. Westinghouse offered me a draft deferrment
and I came with the express purpose to leave. It (the deferment) was here
in Pittsburgh so I took it and moved here. I didn't want to go to war.
I was only going to stay until after the war was over. The war's over
and I'm still here. I ended up liking it here.
Mya
When was the last time you visited Cuba?
José
I haven't been back to Cuba since I left.
Mya
Did you have to make any big adjustments when you came to America?
José
No not really. I spoke English when I came to the U. S. The transition
wasn't that dramatic. But it must have been for the people at the high
school. They had never seen a Cuban before. People were literally coming
up to me and staring at me. Many of them would ask if they could touch
my skin.
Mya
That's funny. I can picture a lot of people running up to you
and pinching you. Shocked that they were actually touching Cuban flesh.
Mya
While doing research on Cuban family life and teen and dating
traditions, I came across the idea that dating in Latin countries is taken
seriously among many families whether they are religious or not. Teenage
girls, who consider dating, are taken on dates with the supervision of
parents, or a multitude of other older family members. Sometimes they
are not allowed to date at all. Is this equivalent to how dating is viewed
in Cuba?
José
Well I haven't been back to Cuba since I left in 1961, so I don't know
how it is over there now. But people used to take chaperones with them.
I had my first girlfriend in high school. She was either a freshman or
a sophomore. I can't remember. She just walked up to me and said, you
know, that we were going to be girlfriend and boyfriend and that was that.
Mya
While I was doing research, I read a story about a girl who had
moved to America from a Latin American country and she wanted to go to
a school dance and this guy was supposed to be taking her. Her parents
agreed but her mother and aunts went along with her. She was really embarrassed.
She noticed that the girls in America were allowed to go on dates without
chaperones and because it was fairly new for her, she wanted to do the
same thing but her parents wouldn't let her. So every time she went out
with a guy, she had a household of family members trailing behind her.
José
It is custom in most families even in Cuba to take chaperones
out on dates with you. In the 60s we had chaperones, which made Cuban
boys agile. And many times it's not even the teenagers. I have chaperoned
for a twenty five-year-old couple before. It's all about being seen in
public by yourselves and the things that you limit yourselves to doing
in front of company. It's safer. As a matter of fact, I remember when
my first girlfriend took me to her house. We were on the way home from
school and she invited me in and her parents weren't home. So we sat on
the couch and we started kissing. All of a sudden her father walks through
the door.
Mya
You must have thought you were dead.
José
Yeah...and the funny thing was that she said "Hi" to her father and
instead of being shocked, he walked into kitchen, grabbed a beer and
left.
Mya
Can you name at least three traditional family customs that are
popular in many Cuban families?
José
Well Christmas was very big. Most people celebrate both the 24th
and the 25th of December as well as the 6th of January. So kids got presents
all those days. Our Christmas meal is on the evening of the 24th . When
I was there, there was more family life than there is now. Families tended
to stay close. I had two uncles blocks away from me and other relatives
blocks away. We had lots of family events. Cuban customs were just plain
visiting; we would stop unannounced to visit some friend. Visiting was
done a lot, and it was mostly unannounced.
Mya
In some Latin American countries they have a siesta. Is that a big thing
in Cuba?
José
I do remember my father coming home around noon catching a nap. But I
don't think it was that big of a deal in Cuba because of our American
interests and influences. If so, a lot of the businesses closed from 1:00
to 4:00 PM and then re-opened from 4:00 to 7or 8 PM in the evening.
During days of the siesta people would work half of a day on Saturday
and the work week would be five days.
Mya
What would you say are the recognizable differences between Cuba's
school systems and the ones that are here in the United States?
José
I know that it would take billions of dollars just to update
the school systems. When Castro came into power, there weren't anymore
imports or exports. All of the cars and buildings you see now look like
they are from the 50s and 60s...because they are. Little has been done
to fix the houses since Castro came into power.
Mya
What do you think will happen after Fidel dies?
José
I know that a lot of Cuban's are scared that if Fidel dies, the Cubans
in Miami would come back and try to reclaim what was lost. Unfortunately
we still do have Miami Cubans that want their land back. When Fidel came
into power, there were many Cubans who worked for American companies.
They left to keep their money and their businesses. Many of them were
wealthy and if they stayed, their money would have been taken and sucked
into communism.
Mya
You were lucky to get out of there before it was too late.
José
Yes. I wake up every morning and I say "Thank you Fidel." I'm serious.
The best thing that happened to me was leaving Cuba.
Mya
Is it true that Cuba has thousands of doctors and that the healthcare
has gone up tremendously.
José
It is true that they have a lot of doctors but the healthcare isn't all
that it's cooked up to be. People still die because of simple cuts. We
don't know what an MRI is and stuff like that. Technology is so far behind.
Mya
What do young people do for fun now that everything is controlled by the
government?
José
They still have movie theatres. But the one thing that suffered the most
was comedy. If you think about it, the things that people make fun of
today are things like the economy and the people in the government. They
weren't able to do that. They would end up in prison.