Some Cuban emigrants return to island to live
Whether for financial or family reasons or just plain homesickness, a growing number of Cuban emigrants are returning to the island.
Posted on Wed, Jun. 11, 2008
BY MIAMI HERALD STAFF
cuba@MiamiHerald.com
HAVANA -- Jorge's friends at work call him the ``Sixth Hero.''
Folks here figure Jorge must be the secret spy who got away. Why else would he have returned to Cuba after living in the United States for six years? The ''sixth hero'' reference relates to the five Cuban intelligence agents the Cuban government nicknamed ''the Five Heroes'' who are serving long U.S. prison sentences.
Despite the freedom Jorge enjoyed and the ability to earn a better living as a school custodian in Miami Beach, Jorge returned to Cuba in 2002 to face a government that mistrusted him, a year of probation and friends who assume he is a member of the intelligence service. He said he is one of a growing number of émigrés who after years of living abroad yearn for the sounds and familiarity of home.
So they pack a few things and return to a country where they might make in a month what they used to earn in an hour.
Jorge says he feels now like a TV mute button -- every time he walks into a room, everyone stops talking.
''The government here thinks you are CIA, and the people think you are state security who went to the United States and came back after completing your mission,'' said Jorge, 47, who works as a guitarist. 'The others just think you are crazy for coming back. But, you know, every now and then someone visiting from Miami passes by my house and asks me, `I want to come back, too. How did you do it?' ''
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STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER / MIAMI HERALD STAFF
Jorge, a Cuban who once lived in Miami but later decided
to move back to Cuba, rides his motorcycle from his
apartment to his job as a musician at a restaurant in Havana.
STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER / MIAMI HERALD STAFF
Jorge, a Cuban who once lived in Miami but later decided
to move back to Cuba, stands in the doorway of his
apartment in Havana .
STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER / MIAMI HERALD STAFF
Jorge, a Cuban who once lived in Miami but later decided
to move back to Cuba, plays with his dog and cat in his
Havana apartment.