"Hooked" by Tijerón

[Time for a post from a reader of Mambi Watch*. Thanks to Tijerón for his submission which I found interesting to read as another listener of Radio Mambi. If anyone else would like to submit stories just e-mail me. It can be it critical or supportive of Spanish-language media in Miami covering Cuba.]


“Poor bastard.” I think that’s the closest translation in English. Ninoska Perez-Castellon on Radio Mambi likes to say “poor bastard” (pobre infeliz) a lot.

When she informs her Miami audience that a Cuban is waiting to receive construction material from the regime, or when discussing how doctors are exported to Venezuela for oil, or when sex-tourism, Cuban athletes or island godlessness are dissected, anyone living in Cuba is labeled a "poor bastard" if they are not fighting against Castro.

“Poor bastard.” It means their existence both saddens and offends her. Yet, she is far more offended than saddened since her solution for Cubans, other than US invasion, is to starve them until they successfully revolt or die. Anything perceived as compromise or conformity inside Cuba is intolerable. So, she labels them the way she pleases.

Ninoska’s views became clear to me one day when listening to her radio show. A caller who had recently arrived from Cuba had this to say:

"Why don't Cubans in Miami want to help us? You are against tourists coming here, against anyone who sends money to the island. We need help!"

Ninoska replied:

"Any money going to the island helps prolong the Castro-communist regime. You are a product of a system that degenerates the human spirit. The only way to free Cuba and Cubans is to cut the resources of the state."

When I first heard this I did not know what to make of it. Now, everyday the shock of Radio Mambi rivals reality TV and video games.

As a Latin American that has never before cared about Cuba, today I’m hooked on the biggest political battle local Hispanic media has to offer; where political ideology hammers mutual empathy and understanding daily.

[*Edited by Mambi Watch]