Marking the start of the Christmas holiday season of 1945, shortly after the end of World War II, this family photo speaks to a time in Cuba when electoral democracy had just ended the first of General Fulgencio Batista’s two regimes (1934-1944). Anything, for many Cubans, must have seemed possible. Those gathered include my ringleted, eight-year-old mother (second row from the front, eyes cast down) with her spectacled older brother Julián and mischievous younger brother Bertón as well as my grandma Yaya (flowered dress, third row) and grandpa Chichi (far right, same row). His joyful expression and toothy grin are hard to ignore. Yet this family had struggled among themselves for mutual acceptance. Marriages that crossed intense, political and historic class divides had haltingly united them, with some (like Chichi) representing impoverished peasantries and others, like abuela Yaya hailing from ancient, slave-owning colonial clans like the Sotolongo and Suárez del Villar families. From the 1860s-1890s, the latter’s wealth had steadily eroded as abolition took effect. The three wars that Cubans, such as Chichi’s dad, fought to liberate Cuba from Spain had also created demands for a just, capitalist economy, an end to racial discrimination, and a sovereign state. Still, amidst political disagreements and even social prejudice, commitment to family and respect for differences could prevail. Cienfuegos, 1945.
