By Juan C. Rodriguez
Class of 1994
I am not a Cuban exile. I am the son of Cuban exiles, born in Spain, raised in the United States since I was eight months old. Ozzie Guillen’s statements to Time magazine didn’t infuriate me. They didn’t sting or give me pause about the time I have to spend covering this man the next six months and beyond.
Tuesday, Individuals will protest Guillen’s Time magazine remarks about first loving and later respecting tyrant Fidel Castro. Miami-Dade County Chairman Joe A. Martinez and others called for Guillen’s ouster, a sentiment that no doubt will be echoed through Little Havana streets.
I don’t profess to feel an ounce of the aguish others did upon reading Guillen’s baffling insensibility. What I found even more troubling were some of the reactions to it. Someone sent a tweet to Guillen’s son, Ozney, that in part read: “I hope the people of Miami run u back to Venezuela and u all get kidnapped.”
No, Guillen didn’t wound me because my pain is vicarious. What he did was re-kindle memories of the heartache I’ve often witnessed in others.
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