Kingston, Jamaica, 25 May 2020. Beyond the barriers imposed by language, Cuba has a common root with Jamaica, as with the rest of the English-speaking Caribbean countries: Africa. All islands in the Antilles share a past of pain, of split families, of men and women torn from their land and brought like beasts in crowded ships to these foreign islands on the other side of the Atlantic. Once here, they and their descendants were forced to work for the colonizer for centuries. Many of these children of Africa did not meekly accept the destiny imposed on them. They rebelled against a master that was as alien to these lands as they were. They played a fundamental role in movements that, by more or less violent means, led the Caribbean islands to their independence, and today they are an essential component of the Antillean culture and society.
Many Cubans living in Jamaica today are descendants of the so-called "Antillean wetbacks" —also descendants of African slaves— who travelled to Cuba at the beginning of the last century to earn a living in the cane, cocoa or coffee plantations. Some eventually returned to Jamaica leaving their progeny in Cuba; others stayed for the rest of their lives in the Greatest Island in the Antilles. Their descendants, Cubans residing in Jamaica, are aware and proud of their African roots.
In the context of celebrations for Africa Day, a group of Cuban women living in Jamaica joined the “challenge” that has become popular on social networks, by wearing African costumes, as a deserved tribute to their ancestors, and to a continent that is an indivisible part of the Caribbean identity.
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Video collage hecho por la Asociación de Cubanos Residentes en Jamaica "Antonio Maceo"
Fotos de cubanas residentes en Jamaica con atuendos africanos