Maria Antonia
Maria Antonia is a famous telenovelas actress. She studied for free at the Cuban Academy of Drama and Art, and she is a passionate supporter of Castro and his ideals of justice. She earns less than the colleagues in the capitalist world, but she doesn’t care. She is proud of her son, who just took a university degree on the subject of human rights in Cuba, and she thinks that the restraint of press freedom is necessary to fight against United States strains. She feels totally confident about the future of Cuba, but still, thinking to Fidel’s death makes her crying.
Rafael
Rafael is an ex fighter of the Sierra close to the figure of Raul Castro. Born in a poor familiy of farmers in the eastern area of Cuba, he joined the revolutionary guerrilla when her mother was killed by Batista’s police. Cook, soldier, than general, Rafael served the country during the bay of pigs and the missiles crisis, than he travelled all over the world to spread the Revolution. Today he is a poet and he deals with the administration of Tropicana. He has been married seven times and for the future he wishes an economic opening, like the one in China. He believes that Raul Castro will accomplish this transition.
Jesus and Pedro
Jesus and Pedro are two young friends. They perform as ballet dancers for tourists, earning mostly with tips. Fidel Castro is the unique leader they know, they love him but they also laugh at the official attitude towards Castro’s illness. They clearly see the limitations of the system, they feel humiliated by the way in which the police treats Cubans and don’t understand the lack of freedom enforced on them. More freedom, but not like in United States. They fear the cuban community of expatrietes in Miami, already celebrating Castro’s funeral. But at the same time they want to leave Cuba and to discover the world, because “no country is worst than Cuba“.
Heriberto
Heriberto was born in Remedios, where he dealt with Batista dictatorship. When the Revolution broke out, he was a gigolo. Today he works for the Interior Ministry, with the duty of infiltrating conter-revolutionary groups. He is a passionate supporter of the system, of which he underlines the best aspects: the healthcare, the education system and the human dignity. Today like yesterday, he is ready and willing to defend Cuba and its youngest generations from the attack of the United States, in whatever form it will happen. He doesn’t envy anything of that world, and he doen’t speak any more with his brothers, escaped from Cuba with a raft.
Miguel
Miguel is a young gigolo. He survives in the slums of center Havana doing illegal business with the tourists, mainly prostitution and black market. The State enforced on him the “low of dangerousness”, that’s way Miguel (the name is fictitious) decided not to show his face in the interview. He sincerely loves Castro, but he thinks that nothing is going to happen with his death. People are hypnotized after nearly fifty years of communism, nobody will go on strike asking more freedom, Cuban people will not participate to this historical transition. His secret dream is to leave Cuba and to see the snow at least once in his life.
