J’can diaspora in Cuba feels forgotten
Published:Tuesday | January 17, 2023 | 1:35 AMLester Hinds/Gleaner Writer
Cuban-Jamaicans residing in Cuba are calling for inclusion in Jamaica’s engagement of its diaspora.
“We are a forgotten community despite being the part of the diaspora closest to Jamaica,” said Yamile Hall, who heads the Jamaican Overseas Club in Cuba, which has some 5,700 members of Jamaican descent.
Hall noted that as descendants of Jamaicans living in Cuba, many Cuban-Jamaicans are trying to connect with their roots and find out about their relatives in the island, but they have been finding it difficult.
“Many of our brothers lost total contact with their ancestors [and their descendants in Jamaica] and today they do not know their origins. In my house, I was able to find my ancestors and their descendants after 100 years of the arrival of my grandfather to Cuba, but many Cuban-Jamaicans are seeking to make such a connection,” Hall told The Gleaner.
She believes the Government could help and support the community of Jamaican descendants in Cuba by having systematic contact with them and by granting access to records, increasing engagement with the community and restarting the process of accepting citizenship requests.
Hall said that although she applied for Jamaican citizenship for herself and her son in 2021, she is yet to receive a response.
She said that last year, she was told by the Jamaican Embassy in Havana that it was no longer receiving citizenship requests. It advised those wishing to receive Jamaican citizenship to travel to Jamaica to apply.
Such travel, Hall said, is a significant hurdle for a community with little monetary resources.
She further said that even a simple request for a Jamaican flag from the embassy in Cuba has gone unfulfilled.
A SPACE FOR EXCHANGE
Hall noted that the Jamaican Overseas Club is not an association with a formal headquarters as they mainly use the Internet to connect. She describes it as a space to exchange and expand their knowledge about their history.
“I was motivated to establish the Jamaican Overseas Club as a vehicle through which we can seek such connections,” said Hall, whose grandfather hailed from St Mary. “We do not pursue any other purpose than solidarity, aid and exchange with the community of descendants of Jamaicans residing in Cuba and other parts of the world.”
Jamaica’s relationship with its nearest neighbour goes back to the days of colonisation, when both islands were ruled by Spain before the British conquered Jamaica in 1655.
According to Jamaica Journal, in the early 1900s, “thousands of British West Indians [including Jamaicans] travelled to Cuba to work in the agricultural industry or to occupy niches in the service industry”.
However, there were some complications, largely owing to colourism.
By the 1970s, things had improved significantly and formal diplomatic relations between the islands were under way. Cuba then built a series of schools and clinics in the more rural parts of Jamaica.
Both islands have produced some influential figures, some of whom have crossed paths.
In 1980, when Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley met with Cuban leader Fidel Castro, The Washington Post reported: “Jamaica is in a unique position as the Caribbean nation with the longest close relationship with Cuba and, at least among the English-speaking islands, the one with the most ties with the United States.”
On the entertainment front, the nations pioneered two popular music genres. Cuba birthed salsa while Jamaica created reggae, and both of these have heavy African influences.