Marjory: Hi, everyone. This is Marjory Wildcraft,
and I am in Cuba, and I really have the pleasure
to share with you today, Alberto.
Alberto, what is your last name?
Alberto: Gonzales.
Marjory: Gonzales. Alberto is a native-born Cuban
who lived through the Special Period.
And you know from my other videos, I talked about the Special Period.
It was a time when very suddenly the Cuban economy collapsed.
There was no oil. There was oh,
lot's of problems. I just wanted Alberto
to talk to us a little bit about that period.
What do you remember from that time?
Alberto: Well, to begin with, I would like to say
that I don't really like the name that we Cubans
gave to that period. I mean that Special Period.
For me, special has rather a positive meaning,
you know, and when I think about the Special Period,
the way I experienced that myself and my family,
believe me if I tell you that it has nothing special about it.
All the memories that I have in the back of my mind
about the Special Period are really very negative,
and those are experiences that I would not like to go through again.
At that time, it was during the early '90s,
you know? Cuba used to have
over 85 percent foreign trade with the former socialist countries
in Eastern Europe, particularly with the former U.S.S.R.,
the Soviet Union, and that foreign trade was lost practically
overnight. So all of a sudden,
we were faced with a very difficult situation.
So the public transportation came to a stop.
Marjory: No more buses?
Alberto: Practically no more buses. We didn't receive any more fuels,
and therefore we did not have electricity. We suffered from blackouts
on a daily basis, sometimes 16 hours in a row.
Marjory: And Cuba gets very hot.
Alberto: Right. Exactly. Imagine the summertime in Cuba,
in July, in hours that are
really, really hot, and not to have electricity,
it means that you don't have a fan. I mean,
I'm not talking about the air conditioning, because that's just a few people have those.
But not even a regular fan. And then the few things
that you had in your refrigerator would be spoiled
because no electricity then. And practically,
there was practically no food. And that was on a daily basis
for weeks and months and years. We didn't see the light
on the other side of the tunnel. So it was very.
I myself ended up in the psychiatric hospital.
Marjory: You did?
Alberto: Yes. In a day hospital for 3 months,
because I realized that no matter how much I tried,
I was not really solving the problem in my own family.
In a macho man society, because in spite of all the achievements
we have obtained over the years, particularly after the revolution,
we are still dragging behind us a lot of male chauvinistic mentality.
I was born and raised in the countryside where that trait is even stronger.
So I was raised with that mentality that I am the provider.
I am the supporter of the family, the breadwinner, you know.
Marjory: And then you couldn't . . .
Alberto: Right. Exactly. And I have two little girls
that were one being born in 1997 and the other in 1998.
So when the Special Period really hit us the strongest,
that was 1993-1994, they were really very little.
And I was even teaching privately, illegally, at night,
because I wanted and I needed
to earn a few more money. Even with that
I couldn't provide my children, not even with a decent plate of food.
So I remember that there were, for weeks on end,
the only thing available that we managed to have on the table
was black bean soup and cabbage, and that's it.
My two daughters were losing weight, and they were refusing.
I still remember that they were pushing the plates
to the center of the table and they were saying,
"Oh, Daddy, I don't like it." And they were losing weight.
So as a parent, that was very painful.
Marjory: We call that appetite fatigue, with the same thing over and over.
Alberto: Over and over again.
Marjory: And even though it's food and they're hungry
they still push it.
Alberto: Right. Exactly. And as a parent
I felt guilty about that. I remember that sometimes
when that happened and I felt frustrated about it,
and impotent, I just locked myself in my bathroom
and I cried out of the frustration. Because I didn't know
how much that would take, and I was responsible
for those children that I had brought into the world.
I was born and raised at the beginning of the revolution,
and I was very poor, as a family.
But I wanted my children to have something better.
In the '80s, Cuba was doing well.
I was at the university back then, and every single year
it was increasingly better. So I was happy because I felt,
"Well, I planned my children." I got married in 1992
after I had graduated. And I even waited four more years.
I wanted to make sure that by the time I had my children,
the future was going to be better for them. I didn't want them to go through what I did.
And that was not the case.
Marjory: So it happened very suddenly for Cuba.
Alberto: Yes. Exactly.
Marjory: And there was really no preparation.
Alberto: The first years after the Soviet Union collapsed
were not really bad, because we had, you know,
like in the warehouses we had spare parts
and raw materials and things that were there,
like the reserved, so to speak. But in 1993-1994,
those two years were by far the most difficult ones
of the so-called Special Period.
Marjory: So people were doing all kinds of things
to grow their own food?
Alberto: Oh, yeah, all types of initiatives were implemented.
I myself, at that time
I used to live in the countryside, in the south of Havana,
about 30 minutes away from the city, in a small house
and to have a little backyard. There I cultivated different things.
I remember that I used to sell
part of what I locally grew over there, because I really needed
to have another source of income. And I remembered
that I used to sell string beans and kitchen tomatoes,
and things like those.
Marjory: Little extras that you grew.
Alberto: At that time we didn't have fuel to cook with,
so I have to buy charcoal, sacks of charcoal,
that were made out of very poor quality firewood.
So it would be, in a matter of a week it was gone,
and it was very expensive, like 100 Cuban regular pesos
for one of those sacks. So believe me,
it was very difficult. We didn't have detergent or soap
or cooking oil or deodorant. And I have to go to work on a bicycle.
For 8 kilometers I have to go by bike.
And imagine in the summertime in Cuba, to go to work in a bicycle,
pedalling 8 kilometers without deodorant. It was a very,
I don't want to remember that. It was really very difficult.
Marjory: Were people fighting each other for resources?
Or were people stealing from each other?
Alberto: Well, there was a little bit of everything. But if I have,
if I am honest I have to tell you that the Special Period
highlighted solidarity among the Cuban people. People were aware that.
I mean, I was not doing well,
but there were people that were doing even worse.
And people helped each other a lot. I remember that for example,
in my school, that was by far
one of the very best schools in the whole country.
We did not have enough food in school. My co-workers,
they brought whatever they had at home, and we collected brown sugar
in our department, and in the middle of the afternoon,
we were starving, literally starving.
And what we had available was the brown sugar,
and that's what we had. And people contributed.
And people helped each other. And people gave you whatever
they were not wearing anymore, so hand-me-downs.
People helped each other a lot. I remember that one year,
at the beginning of the '90s, the school year
was going to begin in the September, and the government
did not have all the resources, the school supplies that were needed,
that are provided every single September for free
to every single student in Cuba. And that specific year,
the government could not provide every single item that was needed.
So there was an invitation by the mass media, by television, by radio, by the newspapers,
asking people to collaborate, and to help out.
And it was amazing, the amount of books and pencils
and stuff that people donated to make sure that all children in Cuba
could have something to begin that school year.
And we succeeded. So in the midst of the worst part,
people helped, and that was good.
Marjory: So the crisis really brought the Cuban people together.
Alberto: I think so. The crisis,
we didn't have any other choice. I mean,
we have to squeeze our ingenuity, and people came up with brilliant ideas.
Marjory: What advice would you have? There's lots of Americans
who are thinking that America could possibly go through
a Special Period like that, an economic collapse, or pandemic,
or some major collapse. And it would be very similar to that.
Cuba did not receive a lot of help from the international community.
The Soviet Union had collapsed. America didn't help.
In fact, we actually tightened our embargoes.
And if America goes through a collapse, we're pretty certain
there's not going to be a lot of help for America.
What would you suggest for people, because there are people in America
who are preparing for this type of event.
What would you, any advice
that you would give them?
Alberto: The best piece of advice that I can give you,
from the bottom of my heart, is that you should be helping each other
the way we did back then, and the way we still doing that even now,
because the situation is not totally back to normal yet.
Somehow we are still, so to speak,
in the Special Period, although we're better off now
with compared to the '90s. So I, we in Cuba
have a proverb that is, and in English it translates as
"Necessity is the mother of inventions." You have to keep that in mind
whenever you are going through a difficult situation.
And then whether you like it or not,
you have to think of ideas, and you have to provide whatever is needed,
no matter what. I remember that in those years
that I was speaking about, we didn't have, for example,
toothpaste. And you need toothpaste
on a daily basis. And people have to
brush their teeth with common salt,
kitchen salt, you know. And we didn't have deodorant,
and so we have to use the bicarbonate, you know, like baking soda,
as deodorant, and things like those.
We didn't have like ground beef. People,
I remember that they boiled the peels of the plantains
and they used a grinder to make ground...
Marjory: Plantain burgers.
Alberto: Plantains, but pretending it was beef,
whatever. So people came up with
so many different ideas in that period.
You cannot be overwhelmed by the problems.
You have to overcome them somehow. You have to think
that you are not always alone, that there are always people
who are there ready to help you out, with out wanting anything in return,
just solidarity. And that is important.
Your best friends are those that are there available for you
when you need them the most. A friend in need is a friend indeed,
and that's totally right. So that is my advice,
that you should be together. You should help each other
at the worst times, because this is when
you really need it the most.
Marjory: That's a beautiful message. And I hear that you're writing a book
about your experiences during the Special Period.
And that's currently being edited, and then it will be available.
Alberto: Yes, when I turned 50 years old,
and that was September the 9th, 2010. I was born in 1960.
So when I was going to celebrate my 50th anniversary,
I was planning to celebrate a party with family and friends.
But then I thought it over and I thought,
"Oh, it doesn't make sense
to be spending so much money in a celebration.
I should be writing my own book
as my gift to myself and to my family
and friends." Little did I know
at that point that somebody
was going to be interested in publishing my book.
The title of my book is "In Defense of My Dream."
My dream was always to become an interpreter,
and that's who I am right now. So my dream
at long last became true. So there was a publisher
in the United States that was really interested
in having my book published, but he needed it to be in English,
so I am an interpreter. That's what I did.
I translated it into English.
Marjory: For yourself.
Alberto: For myself. It was very interesting,
because it was the first time that I have translated myself.
For 20 years, I have been doing that
for other people. But it was the first time
that I did it for myself, and it was very rewarding,
and very inspiring. So now the book
is going to be a reality, the Lord willing,
this very year. By the end of this year,
2013, it's supposed to be already a book,
and I can't wait to see that happen. The publisher is Piper & Hamilton,
and it's based in Madison, Wisconsin.
Marjory: I'll put up a link as soon as it's available
and let people know.
Alberto: So right now, the book has been edited,
and somebody's going to be in charge of doing the proofreading.
So it's a book about my life. It's an autobiographical book,
and therefore I describe every single thing
that I went through, either good or bad.
Since the very beginning of the revolution,
because I was born in 1960, right after the revolution,
in the middle of nowhere in the countryside,
in a very, very poor family. I am the youngest of six siblings.
My mother was a housewife. My father was just a milkman.
We were born and raised in the house
in the countryside with no electricity,
not even a toilet facility, with dirt floor,
only two bedrooms for eight people.
The revolution was providing the people
with better opportunities and stuff like that.
I ended up becoming a professional interpreter,
travelling all around the world, and even translating
for Fidel Castro himself. That was for me unheard of.
So I describe my life, chronologically for the most part,
describing everything that happened, how life began
to get better and better at the beginning of the revolution
during the first two decades. But then
unexpectedly and suddenly the Soviet Union disappeared,
and then everything started to go backwards.
How difficult it was. I describe in details
everything I went through and my family
and my people. And then afterwards,
how I ended up becoming what I have been
dreaming all along, being an interpreter.
Marjory: Well, I have to say, having spent the last week with you,
and having you interpret for me, all the different people
that we've been meeting and interviews
that we've been doing, you're a fantastic interpreter.
It's been really a delight.
Alberto: Thank you.
Marjory: Well, as soon as that book becomes available,
I'll be sure to let everybody know, and we'll get a link for you
on where you can get it, and I really look forward
to reading the book. Thank you for spending time.
Alberto: You're welcome. Thank you for being interested
in reading my book. I really appreciate it.
It's very nice of you.