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S.
Florida children send money, hope to families
of Cuban dissidents
By Madeline Baró
Diaz, Miami Bureau. Posted May 17 2004 in
The
Sun-Sentinel.
HIALEAH -- In neat cursive handwriting,
16-year-old Jennifer Valle made her best
attempt to comfort the children of a man
who was reportedly dying because he'd stopped
eating to protest being imprisoned for two
years in Cuba without a trial.
"I am very sad about your father because
I know how important a father is for his
children," she wrote to the children
of dissident Leonardo Bruzón Avila.
"God will always be with you for he
is always at the side of those who suffer
injustices and mistreatment."
Valle's political conscience is not unusual
in her crowd of friends. She is one of 58
children in South Florida who make up the
Ismaelillos.
They wash cars, sell bookmarks and hold
other fund-raisers for the families of dissidents
and political prisoners in Cuba. They hope
the money raised will buy school supplies,
toys or Christmas meals for pals they write
to and phone on the island.
"We want to help people who need our
help," said Manzy Medina, 14, a member
of the group since it formed in 2000.
The Ismaelillos, whose name comes from
a book of poetry that Cuban independence
hero José Martí wrote and
dedicated to his son, have raised more than
$5,000 over the years, which they send through
local agencies or Western Union. They have
also sent medicine and other supplies to
Cuba.
Members of the group, who live in Miami-Dade
and Broward counties, participate in cultural
events and commemorations in the Cuban-American
community. They sat alongside President
Bush during a 2002 Miami celebration of
Cuba's centennial.
Lucrecia Rodriguez, a history and English
teacher at Christ-Mar School in Hialeah,
organized the children as part of her work
with the Coalition of Cuban-American Women,
which made the Ismaelillos its juvenile
chapter.
Although Cuba is at the center of almost
everything the children do, the families
of many members of the group come from other
Latin American countries, and the children
came to the group as students at Christ-Mar.
When the Ismaelillos write or speak with
children in Cuba, it's not supposed to be
about politics. Each wants to know what
the other does for fun, what their schools
are like, what kind of music they listen
to and other topics that help the children
get to know each other.
"They are good people," said
Rene Brito, 14, who has been with the Ismaelillos
for about a year. "They like the same
things we like."
The letters from Cuba paint lives that
the children in the United States can relate
to. A 13-year-old girl says she won a contest
by lip syncing to Puerto Rican salsa music
star Olga Tañón; a 7-year-old
boy says he loves storybooks, coloring and
playing; and a 5-year-old who is too little
to write sends a message through his mom.
She tells his friend Manzy in Hialeah that
her son lives on a farm in Cuba where he
has chickens, cows and a big brown dog named
Terry.
But politics hovers in the background,
since the parents of many of the children
on the island are serving prison terms for
speaking out against Fidel Castro's government
or advocating for democracy in Cuba.
"Don't despair pray a lot just like
we are doing here for you and for your father,"
Jennifer reassured the children of Bruzón
Avila in her note.
Meanwhile, Sayli Navarro of Matanzas, the
17-year-old daughter of Cuban independent
journalist Felix Navarro Rodriguez, who
is serving a 25-year prison sentence, wrote
a cheery letter to Jessica Valle, Jennifer's
sister, hoping that "she will always
be a flower, a bud that turns into a flower
and makes everyone happy with its perfume."
Navarro, who has carried on with her father's
work, wrote back in a slightly darker tone.
"You don't know how much it strengthens
and comforts us to know that we are not
alone, not one single instant," Navarro
wrote in a missive that later implied a
letter Rodriguez sent earlier fell into
the hands of government officials. "Surely,
it finds itself lost in an office drawer;
you already know the mechanisms that are
put into practice in Cuba."
Maritza Lugo, a recent Cuban arrival to
Miami, often gathered children of political
prisoners at her farm in Cuba so they could
receive phone calls from the Ismaelillos.
She said the letters and gifts from the
United States meant a lot to the Cuban children.
"At least they know that they aren't
alone," Lugo said. "[The Ismaelillos]
send a message of humanity and solidarity."
Lugo spent five years in a Cuban prison
because of her pro-democracy activities
in Cuba, and her husband is still serving
a 20-year sentence. She recalled how her
daughters, now 13 and 20, would visit her
in prison and talk about their friends in
the United States. After arriving in Miami
with their mom in 2002, Lugo's daughters
joined the group.
"The letters boosted their spirits,"
she said. "Receiving letters from children
who were not in Cuba made them very happy."
At least once a year, the Ismaelillos put
on a show based on Martí's works
or one that celebrates their Hispanic heritage.
They are currently rehearsing Abdala, a
work written by Martí when he was
16, and they hope to be ready for an August
performance.
Rodriguez said Martí is the group's
role model because of the lessons his life
held.
"He was very Cuban, very patriotic,
and he loved children very much," she
said. "Through Martí, the children
learn to love Cuba."
That patriotism was expressed in Jennifer
Valle's letter.
"A love for Cuba unites us,"
she wrote. "Even though we do not know
[Cuba] we love it through our parents, grandparents
and above all through you dissidents who
fight for the freedom of all Cubans."
Madeline Baró Diaz can be reached
at mbaro@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5007.
Copyright © 2004, South
Florida Sun-Sentinel
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