The Cuban writer Daína Chaviano confessed this Sunday a desire that she had never made public, and that is, if Cuba changes, she wants to travel the island hunting ghosts in places where historical battles were fought.
"I've never said it before, but one of the things I want to do in Cuba is go ghost hunting," revealed in an exclusive interview with CiberCuba the writer who has been residing in Miami since 1991 and is the author of the literary cycle La Habana Oculta, a saga that blends Cuban history, spiritualism, and paranormal phenomena.
The author of El abrevadero de los dinosaurios (1990) explained that she has identified a specific location where, it is said, battles of mambises can still be heard.
"There are many places that I found out about here that are haunted. When I say haunted, I mean that you can hear voices... I have a spot pinpointed where the sounds of mambi battles can be heard. You can still hear it," he explained.
Chaviano supports his interest in a paranormal theory, which suggests that "when a violent event occurs in a certain place, it sometimes leaves behind a recording of history that repeats and repeats and repeats."
"I would like to do it in those places where historic battles took place and where I know or it is said that that mechanism for reproducing ghosts still exists," he added.
Ghost hunting is not the only plan the writer has for the day the dictatorship falls. "If that were to change... it would be so easy. The ferries that used to operate, in two or three hours I'd be in Havana. I could present a book there, I could meet up with friends I haven't seen in a long time," she said, reminiscing about a time when there were three or four flights daily between Miami and Havana.
Chaviano also wants to explore parts of Cuba that he discovered from exile but never had the chance to visit in person.
The confessions take place at a time of maximum political tension. The writer, who left the island at the beginning of the 1990s, was categorical in comparing that crisis to the current one. "It's not the same; it's even worse", she assured.
She also lamented that the Cuban population has returned to cooking with charcoal, something that, according to her, did not even happen during the Special Period, and she stated that "if Cuba were not an island, the country would have already emptied out."
Regarding the possibility of a political change, Chaviano was straightforward: "I don't believe it can come from within the island."
In this regard, he used a proverb to illustrate his stance: "Dictatorships must be set on fire like the macaw... because otherwise, they won't leave, they won't leave on their own."
The writer expressed hope for a scenario similar to what Venezuela experienced after the fall of Nicolás Maduro in January.
"I wish it were something like Venezuela, which is what we are waiting for," he wished.
This week, a luxury reedition of his novel El hombre, la hembra y el hambre (1998) is being presented in Miami, a work that depicted the Special Period and resonates today with painful relevance.
"We are all on edge, both those of us living abroad and those on the island as well," concluded Chaviano.
Filed under: