Here & Now

Cuban-born Lucia Nunez Reflects on Obama's Visit to Cuba

ZAC SCHULTZ:

FROM NATIONAL POLITICS TO INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS. THIS WEEK, PRESIDENT OBAMA BECAME THE FIRST U.S. PRESIDENT TO VISIT CUBA IN 88 YEARS. THE PRESIDENT HELD A JOINT PRESS CONFERENCE WITH CUBAN PRESIDENT RAUL CASTRO AND EVEN ATTENDED A BASEBALL GAME. THE TRIP WAS NOT WITHOUT CONTROVERSY, AS MANY CUBAN EXILES IN AMERICA FEEL THE VISIT GIVES LEGITIMACY TO THE CASTRO REGIME. PRESIDENT OBAMA’S ADMINISTRATION SAYS OPENING UP RELATIONS IS THE WAY TO ACCELERATE CHANGES IN CUBA. HERE WITH SOME PERSPECTIVE ON THIS TRIP IS LUCIA NUNEZ, A CUBAN NATIVE AND THE VICE PRESIDENT OF EQUITY, INCLUSION AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT FOR MADISON AREA TECHNICAL COLLEGE. THANKS FOR BEING HERE.

LUCIA NUNEZ:

THANK YOU FOR INVITING ME.

ZAC SCHULTZ:

IS THERE A LARGE CUBAN COMMUNITY IN WISCONSIN?

LUCIA NUNEZ:

NOT REALLY. IT’S PRETTY SMALL, VERY LIMITED. THE LARGEST PART OF THE CUBAN COMMUNITY CAME IN THE ’80s WITH THE MARIELITOS, THE PEOPLE LEAVING ON BOATS AND THEY WERE RELOCATED HERE TO FORT MCCOY. THE ORIGINS OF CENTRO HISPANO OF DANE COUNTY COMES FROM CREATING AN ORGANIZATION TO HELP MEET THE NEEDS OF THOSE MARIELITOS.

ZAC SCHULTZ:

WHAT DO CUBANS HERE, BROADLY SPEAKING, THINK OF THE PRESIDENT’S VISIT? IS IT A SPLIT OPINION?

LUCIA NUNEZ:

ABSOLUTELY. IT’S ALMOST GENERATIONAL. PEOPLE MY PARENTS’ GENERATION ARE OPPOSED. THIS IS A VERY EMOTIONAL SUBJECT TO THEM. FOR MANY, TAKE MY FATHER, FOR INSTANCE, LEAVING CUBA AND THE FAMILY SPLIT, BROTHER AND BROTHER DIDN’T SPEAK AGAIN FOREVER. YOU KNOW, MY UNCLE SUPPORTED FIDEL CASTRO, FOUGHT IN THE MOUNTAINS WITH HIM, WHEREAS MY FATHER DID NOT. SO FOR THAT GENERATION IT’S VERY EMOTIONAL. AND OBAMA’S DOING SOMETHING THAT THEY DON’T AGREE WITH. FOR MY GENERATION AND SOME YOUNGER, OUR LIVES ARE HERE. WE’VE CREATED A LIFE HERE, AND WE ARE INTERESTED IN CUBA. WE HAVE A FASCINATION WITH CUBA. BUT, YOU KNOW, I HAVE NO INTENTION OF RETURNING AND RECLAIMING MY FAMILY HOME. I DIDN’T HAVE AN ESTATE. OUR FAMILIES DIDN’T HAVE ESTATES THERE. SO IT’S NOT SOMETHING THAT WE WANT TO RETURN AND CHANGE BACK CUBA TO PRE-CASTRO.

ZAC SCHULTZ:

NOW, YOU CAME TO THE UNITED STATES WHEN YOU WERE FIVE YEARS OLD?

LUCIA NUNEZ:

CORRECT. 1965. WE LEFT AFTER THE CUBAN REVOLUTION.

ZAC SCHULTZ:

AND WHAT WAS YOUR FEELING ON THE EMBARGO GROWING UP? DID YOU MIRROR YOUR FATHER’S POLITICS THEN?

LUCIA NUNEZ:

IT WAS A SOURCE OF CONTENTION. IN MY FAMILY, DEFINITELY BETWEEN MY BROTHERS AND I AND MY PARENTS. MY FATHER FELT VERY STRONGLY ABOUT MAINTAINING THE EMBARGO AND KEEPING A STRONGHOLD ON MAKING SURE THAT CUBA DIDN’T — UNTIL THEY CHANGED POLITICAL REGIMES, MAKING SURE THAT THE UNITED STATES DIDN’T OPEN DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH THEM. BUT FOR US WE WERE ALWAYS –LIFT THE EMBARGO AND I’M VERY HAPPY ABOUT WHAT PRESIDENT OBAMA IS PLANNING TO DO.

ZAC SCHULTZ:

YOU WERE ABLE TO RETURN TO CUBA FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE YOU WERE A CHILD. WHAT WAS THAT LIKE?

LUCIA NUNEZ:

LAST SUMMER WE TOOK A TRIP. WE SPENT A MONTH IN CUBA, NOT ONLY TRAVELING, BUT VISITING FAMILY. I STILL HAVE A NUMBER OF COUSINS, AN AUNT, MY MOTHER’S LAST REMAINING SISTER.

ZAC SCHULTZ:

THIS IS YOUR CHILDHOOD HOME ON SCREEN.

LUCIA NUNEZ:

EXACTLY, YEAH. WE WENT TO CAIMANERA WHICH IS A VERY SMALL TOWN JUST BEFORE THE U.S. NAVAL BASE ON CUBA. AS A MATTER OF FACT, FROM THE TOWN YOU CAN SEE THE FENCE — TWO FENCE, BOTH THE U.S. FENCE AND THE CUBAN FENCE, AND YOU CAN SEE THE U.S. NAVAL BASE.

ZAC SCHULTZ:

SO WAS THAT EMOTIONAL FOR YOU? WAS IT A HOMECOMING? DID THE POLITICS FILTER IN OR WAS IT MORE ABOUT YOU GOING BACK TO A PLACE OF YOUR FAMILY HISTORY?

LUCIA NUNEZ:

YOU KNOW, MY EXPECTATIONS WERE I THOUGHT POLITICS MIGHT FILTER IN. I THOUGHT PEOPLE MIGHT THINK I BETRAYED CUBA AND LEFT AND MIGHT RESENT. BUT IT WASN’T THAT WAY AT ALL. AS A MATTER OF FACT, IT WAS INCREDIBLY EMOTIONAL, SEEING COUSINS AND SEEING THE TOWN WHERE I GREW UP. I HAVE VERY FEW MEMORIES. AND SEEING MY GRANDPARENTS’ BACKYARD WHERE MY COUSIN STILL LIVES CAME — MANY MEMORIES CAME BACK. SO IT WAS AN INCREDIBLY EMOTIONAL TRIP. AND PEOPLE WERE SO WELCOMING. NO MATTER WHAT PART OF THE COUNTRY WE WERE IN, WHEN I SAID I WAS CUBAN THEY DIDN’T AT ALL — THEY JUST WANTED TO KNOW MORE. THEY WERE VERY WELCOMING AND ACCEPTING.

ZAC SCHULTZ:

SO WHAT IS THE FUTURE FOR CUBAN-AMERICAN RELATIONS? SPEAKING FOR SOMEONE WHO DOESN’T HAVE ANY CUBAN HISTORY, A LOT OF PEOPLE I KNOW THEIR VIEW OF CUBA IS IT’S ANOTHER POTENTIAL VACATION SPOT IN THE CARIBBEAN. THEY DON’T VIEW IT AS ANYTHING OTHER THAN DOES IT HAVE NICE BEACHES AND WHEN’S THE RESORT GOING IN? SO DO YOU SEE THAT AS THE FUTURE OR WILL THERE ALWAYS BE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JAMAICA AND CUBA IN TERMS OF HOW PEOPLE SEE IT?

LUCIA NUNEZ:

IF YOU LOOK AT CUBA, CUBA HAS MORE ARABLE LAND THAN ANY OF THOSE OTHER ISLANDS. IT’S A HUGE ISLAND. THERE’S ALSO AN INCREDIBLE BIODIVERSITY IN CUBA. ONE OF THE INTERESTS THAT I HAVE IS THEY’VE DONE SOME EXPLORATION WITH THE BLUE VENOM OF — THE VENOM OF THE BLUE SCORPION, WHICH IS ONLY FOUND IN THIS ONE AREA OF CUBA. THEY’RE LOOKING AT THAT KIND OF STUFF FOR TRYING TO ISOLATE IT AND CREATE A TOXIN TO REDUCE THE SIZE OF TUMORS. SO I THINK IT’S NOT JUST A VACATION SPOT. YES, IT’S ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL, WITH INCREDIBLE BEACHES AND MOUNTAINS. BUT I THINK THE POSSIBILITIES OF MEDICAL RESEARCH AND SCIENTIFIC COLLABORATION AND — I THINK ARE INCREDIBLE AND I THINK THERE’S A GREAT DEAL OF POTENTIAL THERE. SO I’M HOPING THAT THAT’S THE TYPE OF THINGS THAT WILL OPEN UP WITH THIS LIFTING NOT ONLY OF THE EMBARGO, BUT, YOU KNOW, CREATING MORE RELATIONS WITH THE COUNTRY.

ZAC SCHULTZ:

ALL RIGHT. WELL, THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME TODAY, YOUR PERSPECTIVE.

LUCIA NUNEZ:

THANK YOU.