By Gina Martinez
The death of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro has been cause for celebration for some Cubans in Queens.
The 90-year-old communist leader died last Friday after suffering from an unknown illness. His brother, Raul Castro, who took over in 2008 as president, made the announcement on Cuban television. Almost immediately there was footage from Cubans in Miami celebrating and dancing after learning of his death. Many Cubans had to flee the country as refugees and start new lives in the United States to escape the Castro regime, which restricted freedom of speech and left its people in serious poverty.
Although Queens has a large Latin population, Cubans do not make up a large portion. There are small staples throughout the borough, including Rincón Criollo, a Cuban restaurant located in Corona near the intersection of Roosevelt Avenue and Junction Boulevard. The restaurant has been around for 40 years and is owned by Rudy Acosta Sr., who was born in Santiago de las Vegas, a municipality about 12 miles from Havana.
Acosta said he found out about Castro’s death while watching Sports Center Friday night. He said he logged on to social media and saw happy Cubans in the streets of Miami banging pots and pans so he did the same thing. He posted his jubilation on Facebook and it currently has over 600,000 views.
“It’s a celebration,” he said. “He represented the communist movement, he represented my grandfather having his restaurant taken away in 1962. It’s years of oppression, years of families being separated and he was the face of that. Cubans all know that Raul Castro has been in power now for the last eight years, so technically it doesn’t change anything.”
He added, “But there’s hope now that there could be a change with him gone. We knew his influence on the Cuban people. Its hope for a better future, for our Cuba and its people.”
Daniel Gonzalez, an employee at Rincón Criollo, is American-born but Castro still had a huge impact on his life. His grandfather was forced to flee Cuba under his rule and the family was forced to rebuilt their lives in Miami.
“This is good news for a lot of Cuban Americans,” he said. “No one wants to celebrate a person’s death. It’s a sad thing, but when a dictator who caused so many people pain passes away, you almost get this sense of closure. So many Cubans had to flee, my grandfather was tortured and his businesses were seized.”
Gonzalez went on to say that “being born in Miami I feel like I’ve already celebrated his death a lot because of all the false reports that would come out, but it’s nice to know that this time it’s real.”
Historically, The United States and Cuba have been enemies, but American and Cuban relations eased under the Obama administration. In 2014 the president announced that diplomatic and commercial relations with the island would be restored after more than 50 years, and earlier this year Obama visited the island standing side-by-side with Fidel’s brother Raul.
Just this Monday JetBlue flew its first commercial flight to Havana from Kennedy Airport.
Reach Gina Martinez by e-mail at gmart
