Caribbean Pride: 15-year-old looks forward to U.S. citizenship but misses Cuba

Sometimes, 15-year-old Lisbet Matos just wants to feel the sand between her toes again.

She wants to take a break after school and watch the sun on the water. Or relax with her friends as they watch dusk turn to twilight.

The Cuban-born Matos says she's a little bewildered by the rigid schedules and daily grind in the U.S. There's no room for spontaneity, she says, and longs for the island culture she knew in Cuba.

"Here, everyone is in a routine from work or school, but in Cuba, it's not a routine," Matos said. "There's always something different. People work, people go to school, but every day isn't the same. People over there aren't such freaks about time. It's stressful here."

In Cuba, said Matos, who grew up in Guantanamo, everyone takes a break to play in the ocean or the river sometime during the day.

Still, life on the island was a paradox, she remembers: Surrounded by the lush tropical landscape, her family lived with a shortage of food - a way of life for many Cubans, she said.

She remembers when she and her friends would kill birds to eat.

"We never ate three meals a day," Matos said. "If there wasn't enough bread (to go around), our parents would give it to us. We were a family of five. The neighbors did help a lot; if they had extras, they would give them to us."

Matos, a sophomore at Rochelle Township High School, came to the United States with her parents and two siblings in 1999, at the age of 5, when her father won a visa through the lottery. Since then, she has longed to return home for good.

"Don't get me wrong, I love living here," she said. "But it will always be my country that I miss."

She said her family would go back if the government changes. In an ideal world, Matos said Cuba would become a U.S. territory, like Puerto Rico.

"Fidel Castro did a lot of evil for my country and my family," Matos said. "I don't care for him."

Matos' father, Jose, a dental technician in Rockford, and Lisset, her 20-year-old sister, have already become citizens. Now, it's Matos' turn to go through the process with her brother, Kolver, 13, and her mother, Sarita.

"Becoming a citizen of the United States is a privilege. It's cool - I'll be able to vote when I'm 18."

While Matos has visited Cuba three times since her family's move, most recently in August 2006, she said her desire to live there only continues to grow. She attributes this to an overwhelming sense of pride.

"A lot of people from school actually ask why I am so proud of my country," Matos said. "I am like a lot of Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and different types of people from different countries - we all have natural pride. I think it's a Latino thing."

Betsy López Fritscher, a staff writer for Espejo, a Spanish language weekly of the Register Star, can be contacted at (815) 961-5842 or Bfritsch@rrstar.com.