Mamela Fiallo Flor 
She is a woman of color—a symbol that the progressive left often seeks in politics, as they claim they have been excluded. What they didn’t expect is that this particular woman will now appear on a U.S. coin even though she doesn’t share any left-wing ideals. Celia Cruz, a Cuban singer, was fiercely anti-communist. Unlike the over 2 million exiles, she didn’t escape the island; the regime simply didn’t allow her to return—not even for her mother’s funeral.
Celia Cruz left the island before the revolution declared itself a communist revolution; by then, she was already a renowned singer. Her voice was so internationally recognized that the tyrant Fidel Castro couldn’t tolerate someone being more famous than him on the island, so he didn’t allow her to return. Additionally, her legacy was foreign to the revolution. To maintain a tyranny, citizens must be dependent, not entrepreneurial.
Few people know that the 1959 revolution was not a communist revolution from the beginning . On the contrary, it was an armed resistance against Fulgencio Batista, who was socialist. There are even CIA interviews where Fidel Castro is called “their man.” His image was even romanticized.
It wasn’t until after taking power that the tyranny intensified, first by eliminating dissent, with Camilo Cienfuegos leading the charge. He fought in the Sierra Maestra for freedom, not to impose communism.
In Celia’s case, the most symbolic act of her resistance was traveling to the Guantánamo base just to touch Cuban soil through a fence. In socialism, walls aren’t built to keep out enemy nations, but to prevent people from escaping.
As the philosopher Jean-François Revel said, “What marks the failure of socialism is not the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, but its construction in 1961. It was proof that real socialism had reached such a level of decay that it had to imprison those who wanted to leave to prevent them from fleeing.”
Since Cuba is an island, many escaped through shark-infested waters. Some didn’t survive; their makeshift rafts were sunk with pressure hoses. The most iconic case was the “13 de Marzo” tugboat, where the regime killed 41 people (including minors and an entire family).
But Celia didn’t escape on a raft; she left by air. In her autobiography, she details it this way:
“They started calling us to board the plane, and without knowing it was the last time, I felt the Cuban sun shining in that sky. I turned back and saw Ollita (her mother) smiling on the terminal terrace, and I blew her a kiss.”
Given that the average leftist is characterized by sensitivity, learning about her story and her music might help them feel and understand the suffering of those who are exiled from their homeland when their policies take power. As the saying goes, “You don’t know what you have until it’s gone.” Perhaps it will serve as a reflection that Celia sought asylum in the land that an entire generation now renounces. Now that she’s on a U.S. coin, it can serve as a daily reminder of what freedom means and how she lost even the ability to embrace her loved ones one last time, and couldn’t even mourn her dead.
Following is Celia Cruz’s song Por si acaso no regreso:
Just in case I don’t return
Just in case I don’t return
I’ll take your flag with me
Regretting that my eyes
Didn’t see you liberated
Because I had to leave
Everyone can understand
I thought that any moment
I’d return to your soil
But time keeps passing
And your sun keeps crying
The chains keep binding
But I keep waiting
And praying to heaven
And I always felt fortunate
To have been born in your arms
And even though I’m not there
I leave you a piece of my heart
Just in case
Just in case I don’t return
Soon the moment will come
When suffering will be erased
Will we hold grudges, my God?
And we will all share
The same sentiment
Even though time has passed
With pride and dignity
I have carried your name
I have told the world
Your truth
But, land, don’t suffer anymore
Heart, don’t break
There’s no evil that lasts a hundred years
Nor my body that can withstand it
And I never wanted to abandon you
I carried you with every step
And my love will remain
Forever like a flower in your lap
Just in case
Just in case I don’t return
And if I don’t return to my land, I will die of pain
(If I don’t return, the pain will kill me)
I adore that land with all my heart
My beloved, beautiful land, I love you with all my love
(And if I don’t return, the pain will kill me)
So much time without seeing it, my heart aches
When I die
Let them place my flag on my grave
(And if I don’t return) And let them bury me with the music
Of my beloved land
If I don’t return, remember
That I loved it with my life
(And if I don’t return) Oh, the pain will kill me
I’m dying already
Oh, this pain is killing me already
(The pain will kill me)
I always loved you and always will
(The pain will kill me)
The pain will kill me, the pain will kill me
(The pain will kill me)
If I don’t return to that land,
My heart will ache
Mamela Fiallo Flor es profesora de lengua e historia, columnista y conferencista. Plasma su amor por la libertad y pasión por la verdad en cada nota.
Mamela Fiallo Flor is a language and history teacher, columnist, and speaker. She conveys her love for freedom and passion for truth in every piece she writes.