(Review by Israel Ortega)
Quickly juxtaposing Wisconsin and Cuba is difficult.
The first embodies the rugged Midwestern spirit of long working hours, Green Bay Packers and bone-chilling winters while the other conjures up images of a tropical paradise and that bearded General that has stayed in office way too long.
In Cubanos in Wisconsin, blogger, author and radio host, Silvio Canto Jr. pens an autobiographical journey of how a countryside Cuban managed to make it to the frozen tundra that is Wisconsin.
In the process, Canto provides us with an ominous account of just how quickly a relatively prosperous and stable country can be turned upside down because of communism.
As Canto explained to me, “the political and economic repressions that took place once Castro took over happened very quickly….It reminds me to never take your freedom for granted.”
Canto, like many Cubans his age seldom need reminding of the perils of socialism and government planning with many having lived through the horrors of communism first-hand.
But what about younger Americans and younger Cuban Americans that have no recollection of what life was like in Cuba under the Castro regime? What can they get from this account?
A question I posed Canto when interviewing him about his book. Canto acknowledged the generational gap of the Cuban American experience, but correctly remarked in the universality of the immigrant experience that is sure to resonate with younger readers.
Indeed, as a recent Census Bureau Report suggests, nearly a third of Hispanics in the United States have at least one parent or grandparent that is an immigrant suggesting that the ties to Latin America are indeed still very much personal. What’s more, there’s a natural curiosity about Latin America for many of the Hispanics born in the United States as evidenced by Canto’s own sons that learned a great deal about their father’s native Cuba and his adventures along the way, including the story of how a young Silvio almost started World War III at the height of the Cold War by setting off an alarm in a Soviet truck in a military compound.
And although the Cuban Revolution and the Cold War serve as the prominent backdrop to Silvio’s story, much of it could happen in 2013. Leaving your friends, family and loved ones for a new country with a new culture and new language is experienced by many young immigrants. And even if one didn’t immigrate to the country, today’s multi-cultural families are as American as apple pie.
For Silvio, the young immigrant should remember that this country, the United States of America, is a special place. Special because it is one grounded in liberty and the promise of endless opportunity. Unlike his native Cuba that promised equality of outcome once Castro took over, the United States provides that individual can accomplish whatever one sets their heart and mind to fulfilling.
This is a good reminder particularly in a time when the general consensus among the political elite that expanding the social welfare safety net is the only way to confront income inequality.
Beyond the political subtext, Cubanos in Wisconsin is also a good reminder that the Hispanic population is, and has always been geographically diverse. Almost intuitively, Americans are wired to think that Hispanics live only in California and Texas, but as Canto’s book makes clear, Hispanics were living in Wisconsin long before the Latino craze started sweeping our country a few decades back.
Canto’s Cubanos in Wisconsin is an enjoyable read with an important message about how big government can ruin a country and decimate it completely. Despite our current travails, we are indeed a blessed lot with endless possibilities. Canto and other immigrants that come to our shores are a good reminder to fight to preserve and protect those liberties that so many have come here looking for with that promise of a better tomorrow.
P.S. You can order the book here:
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