Do you remember your first Christmas?

Lizbet Martinez certainly does. She celebrated Christmas for the first time at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba when she was twelve years old. She and her parents had fled Cuba during the Balseros (rafters) crisis of 1994 on a rickety raft her father fashioned from inner tubes, rope and scrap lumber.

After drifting at sea for 7 days, the Coast Guard finally picked her up.

But due to a sudden change in US immigration policy, she and hundreds of others were brought back to Guantanamo Bay, where they remained in a camp for months.

It was there that she and many others celebrated Christmas for the first time - something that was not allowed in Cuba when she was growing up.

And, oh, Christmas was another thing. Our first Christmas they, it was, we went to this military they, they had a party and they invited the choir. And once I saw that Christmas tree and Santa Claus I was just like oh, you know, I was old, I was already twelve. I mean when people were, when kids here are twelve, they already know there’s no Santa Claus and Christmas is just another you know year that they get presents. But that first Christmas, even though we were at the camp and we were there, it was so peaceful, so nice. And that’s what, when you’ve missed your family…

We interviewed Lizbet and share her incredible story (along with many others) in the upcoming film Voices From Cuba, narrated by Andy Garcia. To learn more about our film, and receive updates on how you can see it, be sure to STAY IN THE LOOP

Do you remember your first Christmas or Hanukah? Any stories about life in Cuba around the holidays? If so, please share in the comments below.

In the meantime, we’d like to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, and a wonderful 2021!