Vivir los desastres desde el exilio
Los activistas cubanos exiliados y presos políticos en muchas ocasiones constituían el principal sustento de sus familias, que ahora se encuentran en estado de vulnerabilidad, ante la ausencia forzada y arbitraria de sus seres queridos.
La activista Diasniurka Salcedo, exiliada en EE. UU., habló con ADN Cuba sobre el destrozo de su finca en Alquízar, provincia de Artemisa, tras el paso del huracán Rafael. Describió además la desesperación que sintió al escuchar por teléfono las voces asustadas de sus niños y su madre sin poder hacer nada.
Entrevista exclusiva para ADN Cuba por Nitsy Grau
Los activistas cubanos exiliados y presos políticos en muchas ocasiones constituían el principal sustento de sus familias, que ahora se encuentran en estado de vulnerabilidad, ante la ausencia forzada y arbitraria de sus seres queridos.
La activista Diasniurka Salcedo, exiliada en EE. UU., habló con ADN Cuba sobre el destrozo de su finca en Alquízar, provincia de Artemisa, tras el paso del huracán Rafael. Describió además la desesperación que sintió al escuchar por teléfono las voces asustadas de sus niños y su madre sin poder hacer nada.
Entrevista exclusiva para ADN Cuba por Nitsy Grau
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NewsTranscript
00:00I lost communication with my family.
00:02I stayed in the part where they were all in the closet.
00:07I felt the children screaming in the closet.
00:09And one of the girls told me,
00:11we're going to die.
00:12Every time I feel powerless,
00:15I say to myself, Dias Nurka, get up.
00:17Because there are political prisoners who are in a cell
00:20and can't even have that phone call that I can access.
00:24Because the communists have a total abandonment with our country.
00:30The exiled activists and political prisoners
00:38were often the main livelihood of their families,
00:43who are now in a state of vulnerability
00:46due to the forced and arbitrary absence of their loved ones.
00:50The activist Dias Nurka Salcedo,
00:52exiled in the United States,
00:54shared on social media the images
00:56of how her farm was destroyed in Alquizar,
00:59province of Artemisa,
01:01after the hurricane Rafael.
01:03She also described the despair she felt
01:06when she heard on the phone
01:08the frightened voices of her children and her mother
01:11unable to do anything.
01:13Today we talk to Dias Nurka about this experience.
01:17Yes, it is something that is very difficult to describe
01:21because it has been too strong.
01:23Number one, because you feel that your family is in danger.
01:26I was in contact while I was allowed to communicate
01:32because there was a moment,
01:34and at the right moment, when everything was stronger,
01:37I lost communication with my family.
01:39I stayed in the part where they were all in the closet,
01:43protecting themselves,
01:45while everything outside was taking all the roofs
01:48of half the house.
01:51I felt the children screaming in the closet.
01:54And one of the girls told me,
01:56we are going to die.
01:58That is something too strong for a family.
02:01And after that impact,
02:03then the hours of anguish
02:05of not being able to communicate,
02:07of not being able to know how everything is,
02:09is something that is really too hard.
02:12I would say that in my case,
02:14they made me leave Cuba,
02:16but Cuba is still in me and will continue
02:19because it is something that is too difficult to face,
02:22the truth.
02:23You were, in some way,
02:25the emotional and economic support for them, right?
02:29How can they, at this moment,
02:31assume such a critical situation
02:34without you being there,
02:36who is like the head of the family,
02:38and your husband, right?
02:40Yes, it is something very difficult
02:42because when I left Cuba,
02:44my family and I have suffered many changes,
02:47especially my children,
02:49who do not understand many things.
02:51It is something that is difficult to explain
02:53to some innocent people
02:55who still cannot understand
02:57that we live in a system of diabolical communists
02:59and that I had to leave
03:01because I thought differently.
03:03So it has been a very abrupt change
03:05because, for example,
03:07my mother has had to assume my responsibilities,
03:10the care of those children
03:12who already had a way of life with me,
03:15she has tried to follow the things
03:18as I did,
03:20but she is too strong
03:22because she is an older person,
03:24she lives alone with the children,
03:26and all this is very difficult
03:29because it changes.
03:33And it changes what sustenance is,
03:36what things are, responsibilities.
03:38My mother cannot work
03:40because she is completely dedicated to taking care of them.
03:43And it is up to us,
03:45from here, from exile,
03:47to try to appease the situation a little bit.
03:50And now, for example,
03:52it relieved me a lot
03:54that my mother lived on a farm
03:56or lives on a farm,
03:58which is destroyed,
04:00and that, for example,
04:02there were fruit trees,
04:04there were vineyards,
04:06and on the subject of food,
04:08in the economic part,
04:10she used to make a juice for the children,
04:12a mamey,
04:14because there were fruit varieties.
04:16That right now cannot happen
04:18because the farm is totally devastated,
04:20there is nothing,
04:22and we all know that
04:24a fruit tree,
04:26at least 10 years,
04:28for it to reproduce and develop as it is.
04:30I have been all the time
04:32telling my mother,
04:34everything is going to be fine,
04:36those are material things that recover,
04:38and she, with the encouragement that I feel good,
04:40tells me, yes, everything is going to be fine,
04:42and yesterday, in a short call,
04:44because it has been six days without electricity,
04:46in a call,
04:48she tells me,
04:50everything is going to be fine,
04:52and when I heard her, I was crying,
04:54because she couldn't take it anymore.
04:56So that's what I do,
04:58I try to transmit the strength,
05:00everything is going to be fine,
05:02we have to move forward.
05:04Yesterday I was giving her little ideas,
05:06I told her to look for trees
05:08that are injected,
05:10that take less time to reproduce,
05:12but it is too strong, the truth.
05:14And on top of that, I have also seen
05:16that the harassment of state security,
05:18even if you are here,
05:20has continued on your family in Cuba.
05:22Has that been maintained
05:24even in these critical conditions
05:26in which they are?
05:28Exactly, and even so, I tell you that
05:30this week,
05:32as I always say,
05:34I was in the municipality of Alquizar,
05:36seeing what interested her,
05:38because it was directly
05:40to tobacco,
05:42which is what matters to her, the dollars,
05:44and my mother was all the time
05:46under surveillance,
05:48and to communicate with me,
05:50she had to do it through another phone,
05:52because my mother's lines were totally dead.
05:54So it's something inaudible.
05:56I even posted it,
05:58I said, I'm a few miles away,
06:00and still,
06:02they watch me.
06:04My mother is a woman with children, it's incredible.
06:06How old is your mother,
06:08and how old are the children?
06:10Well, there are several ages,
06:12they are about 6 years old,
06:145 and 7.
06:16My mother is 66 years old.
06:18And she is the only one
06:20who is with them there.
06:22And there is a girl
06:24who is like,
06:26as I say, my right hand,
06:28who is the one who helps me with everything,
06:30the one who goes out,
06:32because my mother practically does not go out.
06:34There was a person who helped us
06:36in a bus and taxi to look for food,
06:38and they fined him,
06:40because supposedly he had to have
06:42a license for that bus and taxi,
06:44and that he was only going to look for food
06:46in the village, because we lived far from the village,
06:48on a farm, and it's very difficult.
06:50Also to say that now there are people,
06:52many neighbors,
06:54who have come to help my mother,
06:56people who call me
06:58and send me messages,
07:00don't get discouraged,
07:02we are going to be helping,
07:04because my mother could not go out,
07:06because everything was devastated,
07:08in the courtyard, the trees were huge,
07:10and really too strong.
07:12Do you think that this situation
07:14that you are experiencing,
07:16is also being experienced, for example,
07:18by political prisoners,
07:20who cannot be with their families,
07:22and their children, and their mothers,
07:24in these moments,
07:26like the hurricane,
07:28is it a situation that
07:30is replicated in other people you know?
07:32Of course,
07:34but with all responsibility,
07:36I would say,
07:38I was in prison for 18 months,
07:40and I can assure you that it is even worse
07:42than what I am experiencing,
07:44and that is where my strength is.
07:46Every time I feel
07:48powerless, I say to myself,
07:50Diaz Nurka, get up, because there are political prisoners
07:52who are in a cell,
07:54and they can not even have that phone call
07:56that I can access,
07:58to be able to talk to my family,
08:00every time I can, and every time the internet,
08:02and that the communications allow me.
08:04Of course, one of those people
08:06are the political prisoners.
08:08Diaz Nurka, although you are here,
08:10I have seen that you continue in activism,
08:12that you continue to denounce,
08:14that you even continue to help,
08:16receiving donations to send
08:18to the people of Cuba.
08:20How do you feed yourself of this vocation
08:22to help, even being so far
08:24from Cuba?
08:26I have always been one of those activists,
08:28I have been going for 15 years in political activism,
08:3015 years dealing
08:32with this evil,
08:34and I have always said that
08:36this is something
08:38that is already in me.
08:40Fighting for Cuba, fighting
08:42for the people who need me, is something
08:44that I can not stop doing.
08:46Believe me, it is difficult to even deal
08:48with the different criteria
08:50that exist, because you have to deal
08:52with that. I will not
08:54deny that it is easy,
08:56it is a difficult task,
08:58but it is something that is not impossible,
09:00and it is something that I do with the love of the world,
09:02and I believe that this is also my strength,
09:04and the power,
09:06calm the head in the pillow,
09:08to say, I am doing something
09:10for my country, I am doing something
09:12for the people who truly need me,
09:14and it is not a question
09:16that they thank me, I do not do it
09:18so that they thank me,
09:20I do it because I want to be fine with me,
09:22because I think it is what I feel
09:24that is the right thing, because
09:26otherwise I would be acting
09:28in the same way as the communists,
09:30because the communists have a total
09:32abandonment with our
09:34country, and we as political
09:36activists must
09:38show that people who are
09:40so humiliated, who are so
09:42threatened, that we do care.
09:48For more UN videos visit www.un.org