Old songs and foreign interference!

Maybe it was thinking about my recent visit to Cuba that did it, but for some reason the song “Cuando salí de Cuba” came to mind yesterday. We reflected that it’s a song we’ve not heard for a while although we heard it all the time when we were students in Spain in 1968. Well, of course we did. My rather hast research told me that it was written and recorded by one Luis Aguilé (real name Luis María Aguilera Picca:24 February 1936 in Buenos Aires, Argentina – 10 October 2009 in Madrid, Spain) in 1967.

Even though written by an Argentinean, it became a kind of anthem for all the Cuban exiles who fled to Miami, usually with a fair bit of their wealth. It’s a nice song of loss and nostalgia - basically, “I cannot die because my heart was left behind in Cuba”. I bet all the Galicians living in other parts of the world and suffering from “morriña” - ever so deep romantic nostalgia for the place of your birth which you have chosen to abandon - would appreciate the sentiment..

Here’s an anonymous post about the song from as recently as 2014:-

 “Anonymous said... Cuando Sali De Cuba: Some of us, perhaps as children, endured the pain of a country seized by communism. If you are of that generation that could no longer hang on and had to leave a desperate situation, your history, your roots then perhaps you already know this song. Even if it all happened in the memory of a child, it still resonates with the pain of a farewell no one should ever be asked to endure.
 To those that cannot relate - thank God every day for the greatnesss of the USA. You don't know what you have until you loose it.
January 24, 2014 at 7:56 PM”

Maybe if some of those who fled had stayed behind to contribute to making the country work then things might have turned put differently. And I bet that anonymous writer voted for Trump!

That’s not MY spelling mistake at the end of the post, by the way. I do know the difference between “lose” and “loose”!

Maybe now that Fidel Castro is no more, some of those refugees will return, at least to visit. My friend and I met one during our evening at the Buena Vista Social Club. He was Cuban born but from early childhood an American, an “estadounidense”, living in New Jersey, and seeking out his roots, accompanied by his American wife.

American fear of communism was a big thing. And no doubt still is for many people. Think of the reactions in the Uk to the suggestion that Jeremy Corbyn could be a communist sympathiser, if not an actual card-holding member!

And now people suspect and fear Russian influence all over the place. Here’s a link to an article about a link between a charity run by Prince Charles which seemingly received donations from offshore company used to funnel vast amounts of cash from Russia.

Oops! Foreign fingers in all sorts of pies.