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WHAT IS A BALSERO?
WHAT IS A BALSERO?
The term balseros is used to refer to "persons who have escaped from Cuba in small boats, on homemade rafts (balsas), or on inner tubes, in an effort to reach the United States" (Ackerman 171), especially during the post-revolutionary period, 1959-1974, and the post-communist period beginning in 1989. Consider the material quality of the rafts shown below.
(Norwegian Cruise Line).
("Cuban Rafters in the Florida Straits").
WHAT MOTIVATED BALSEROS?
WHAT MOTIVATED BALSEROS?
In order to understand the significance of the construction of these rafts, it is necessary to consider motivations for leaving Cuba. Ackerman investigated the motivations of Balseros through a case study, finding that the desire for "political and personal freedom" (198) was the most prevalent reason for leaving Cuba. Additionally, earlier rafters often left in resistance to the onset of communism, while later rafters left in resistance to sociopolitical conformity (Ackerman 198).
DE-IDENTIFIED EXCERPTS FROM CASE STUDY
DE-IDENTIFIED EXCERPTS FROM CASE STUDY
“We talk in Cuba of being forced to wear masks of compliance and we say we want to take them off. But, over time, they have been grafted to our faces and we would rip our own features off if we suddenly revealed what's underneath. So, we leave and hope they will dissolve in a new environment" (Ackerman 194).
"Selling or buying is a political decision; socializing is a political act—I cannot separate these things" (Ackerman 194).
“We started with a misguided sense of Cuban leadership in the world, and then, bit by bit, we surrendered our own identities." (Ackerman 195).
While these excerpts are a small piece of the Cuban rafters' experiences, the descriptions of the "mask" and surrendered identities emphasize the repression of Cuban people's ideas under political censorship. It seems that politics lurked in economic and social spheres, creating a sense of unease in one's expression to anyone else. Political motivations to leave Cuba contextualize María Irene Fornés' play, Manual for a Desperate Crossing, which reveals political resistance through repurposing material into rafts.
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