MIAMI (WSVN) - Humberto Alfonso is a Cuban-American who was born on the island and raised in Miami. He was 12 years old when arriving to South Florida, leaving behind his mom, dad and brothers.
Alfonso came to Miami with his grandmother back in 1966, hoping for a better life. “She wanted me to be free,” he said. “She didn’t want me to suffer like my brothers were suffering. I was the smallest one in my family.”
His brothers were imprisoned for speaking against the Castro regime. So, on the day after Fidel’s death, he said he had to visit his grandparents grave.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment for 50 something years,” said Alfonso. “Just to say farewell to my grandmother and grandfather, my mother, my father, my brothers. Now they can rest in peace.”
He told his abuelos that Fidel Castro was finally gone and, now, there’s hope for a free Cuba.
“She would be happy,” said Alfonso. “They would be happy. That’s why I came to bring them flowers. Oh, happy tears. Only remembering them that they would be happy.”
The happiness would not stem from someone’s death, but the death of what Alfonso said Castro represented: oppression, torture and pain for so many cubans.
“I can tell my grandma she can rest in peace,” said Alfonso. “He’s down there, and she’s up there.”
Now that Cuba is turning to another chapter in its history, Alfonso plans on celebrating in his own way. “I still have a bottle of rum that my father had,” Alfonso said. “He said, ‘Don’t open this until we get a free Cuba.’ I’m not going to open it now. Not until we get a free Cuba. 1959. Made in Santiago de Cuba.”
When asked if he will eventually open that bottle, Alfonso said, “I know I’m going to open that bottle.”
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