ALBERTICO Y ESPERANZA (PART IV)

As they sit silently in their battered rocking chairs; dust flying by and the smell of cheap gasoline conquering the air, three strokes and one surgery later, Albertico listens carefully as Antonio explains in plain language the latest developments in America. A black president had governed for two terms, a mogul was now in the White House and his friend, of all people, was part of a group who pushed a message of reconciliation and leniency with the Cuban government; he learned that there allegedly were 55 senators from both parties ready to pass a law that would allow American entrepreneurs to export to Cuba and invest in the island. So the embargo has been lifted, Albertico asked, no, no, but we are slowly dismantling it; it's a matter of time. Oh God, time; time for what and time for who?; Fidel had always pleaded for time to materialize his unrealistic dreams; his enemies claimed time wouldn't solve anything; now; wait a minute! Now his enemies are the ones asking me for more time?; I don't have more time; I don't have time at all; I never had time. Fidel kicked some people out and stayed in power for 50 years; now those are coming back to prevail for another 50 years? I won't live that long. We made a revolution to eliminate a status quo and now I learn that my friend is fighting hard so that the very same status quo emerges from the shambles of this shattered dream we call revolution? 

Antonio carajo before long you will tell me that your people allá fuera are fighting bringing back la Guardia Rural and los casquitos; 

Albertico y Esperanza were able to watch the new president speak about Cuba. It was the first time they watched a speech live from Miami of all places. This new president was rich, very rich and many claimed he was crazy. All his life he had been told that America was the enemy; but all his life had depended on what the Americans decided to do. The US is ready to invade Cuba; Fidel had said so many times, but now the Viejo was finally dead, and he didn't feel sorry about it. America was the beginning and the end of everything Cuban. Of late he had suspected the whole thing was a farce. He had been able to know that Ike had forced Batista out; the the famous batalla de Santa Clara was nothing but one more sign of how corrupt the previous army was; the damned train had been sold. And who paid for it? The same rich people that less than a year later fled the country; the same rich people that were feeding his friend Antonio all that nonsense about defeating the regime with money. Hay cosas que no se entienden. As the hot afternoon became evening and the blackout grew longer the couple sits in their portal watching the world get older, the street dirtier and their memory weaker.