Her father died in 1989, followed by her mother two years later, without ever seeing her again. Barber spent a year cutting cane from dawn to dusk before he was released and went back to the theater, but he chose to leave Cuba for good in 1977. I no longer believed in the revolution and I began to see the bad in everything. While the arts have flourished under Communist rule, benefiting from Government sponsorship and a national system of specialized schools, the Cuban-Americans have found an artistic class hobbled by the economic problems of the country, despite the privileged status of a few. Television programming has been cut back to conserve energy.
Films are limited to two or three a year, often co-productions with other countries.
And many theaters have closed, while those that remain are often shabby and inadequately equipped. People want to see what really happens to people over there, how they insert themselves in North American society, to what extent they maintain their identity. But a company member's cousin was arrested and briefly detained for staying overnight in the relative's hotel and another Repertorio member on a beach outing had to talk a traffic officer out of arresting a friend suspected of being an unauthorized chauffeur. Cubans are not allowed in hotels as guests, and vigilance appears heightened since last year's hotel bombings. Reluctant to delve into politics or criticize their hosts, some Repertorio members instead talked about their hope to create bridges for eventual democratic change in Cuba, and at times seemed in awe of their compatriots.