Cuba, the Island I Treasure

Cuba, the Island I Treasure was written after Walter de Jesus Fitzwater’s trip, 44 years later to the country where he was raised.  He returned to conduct theater workshops with students to alleviate the stigma of HIV/AIDS and to see the family he had left behind. The author's account is in part fascinating journey and part diary. The book's charm lies in the wide-eyed optimism of the traveler himself.  The moments he reconnects with the family are heartfelt.


Anecdotes of childhood and memories of fun days with his grandmother come alive, like walking through the market with the vivid colors of overflowing fruits and vegetables appealing the senses.  Entertaining stories of carnival dancing and conga drum playing on the streets is captivating and lively.  The book depicts stories in the middle of gunfire during the Revolution and their house was shook by mortar as firing tanks came rolling down their street.  He was an eyewitness to the triumphant entrance of Fidel Castro into his town, accompanied by his commanders.  Sadly and slowly, he watched the promises of the Revolution being trampled by its own founders.  And finally he had to leave the embrace of his mother and grandmother when he exiled to Guantanamo Naval Base. Later he endured an unexpected exodus during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.  He was only 14 years old.


A bus trip allowed him to see how the country had changed; it was impossible not to see the imposition of a totalitarian regime and was startled by the poverty he witnessed.  But the characteristics of Cubans were the same as he remembered, especially the joy of life.


His students taught him, through their stories, how to deal with separation anxiety and forgiveness. Change in Cuba must come from inside the country and he is hopeful that Cubans will one day have “besides the basic food, shelter and health, money to spend on comfort.” Today he poses the thought-provoking questions; “Will the US lift the embargo? And in return, “Will the Cuban government have the courage to free its political prisoners and allow freedom of speech to flourish and go unpunished?” 


Readers interested in Cuba and students of international politics will find many fascinations in this intimate first-person account, which seeks to reconcile past and present in the life of a volatile nation—and in the life of the author. The writing can be vivid: “The country's incongruities were not part of me tonight; I was happy to have come. It was my land, my home, and my people.” It can also be dark: “Only time had begun to calm my anxiety, and pain was becoming accepted and slow.” Always, Fitzwater's search for the truth about himself and his homeland is genuine.  


About the Author

While Walter de Jesus Fitzwater was born in Harrisonburg, Virginia, in 1947, he was raised by his mother and her family in Cuba. Political changes of the era eventually forced him to move to the Guantanamo Naval Base, where he learned English in addition to his native Spanish. The Cuban Missile Crisis forced another move, this time back to the United States, where his family resettled in Florida. After studying architecture at the University of Florida, wanderlust set in and he hitchhiked west to San Francisco. The AIDS tragedy of the 1980’s sent him back to Jacksonville, Florida to be closer to his family, where he lives with his mother and sister Michele. His trip to Cuba in 2005 was the genesis of this book.