Although I admired him for his underwater achievements, I never got the chance to interview him. Years have passed, and who would have told me that in Miami I would meet King Triton, Jorge Mario García, the same one with the nine world records that amazed the world of diving.
Now face to face, a little older but still chatty and kind, Jorge Mario allows me to get closer to his life.
What are you doing, and how long have you been in the U.S.? I know you have a connection to the sea, underwater fishing, and diving.
I have lived in Miami for 21 years; I left Cuba for personal reasons that had nothing to do with politics or my life there. I came in search of my son, and fortunately, I achieved my goal and we were reunited.
Since I arrived, I started fishing and selling fish, something I had been doing in Cuba since I was a boy. And although it's hard work, I didn't do badly; I fished with friends who had a commercial license and earned quite a bit of money.
Later, I did what I had planned, which was to buy my boat and start taking people fishing, doing charters, offering courses, teaching people how to fish, and since I have a reputation in this sport, it went quite well for me right away.
And you achieved what you wanted… to be with your son!
Well, yes. I have a wonderful 28-year-old son, Jorge Mario, studying medicine in Puerto Rico. If he had been in Cuba, I don't know how his life would have turned out. In addition, I have a five-year-old daughter, who is a beautiful and intelligent girl, Antonella. She is wonderful too.
Everything is going well for me here in that regard. I live in a beautiful place by the sea. I have my boat and my own business. When people search for me online and see they're going fishing with a world champion, they choose me right away. Hahaha.
Sometimes, my classes seem expensive, and that's when I compare myself to the NBA… hahahaha… Isn’t it pricey to attend a game at that level? Well, I am the NBA of spearfishing. Anyway, I've been doing the same thing here for many years, and it's going well.
Precisely, you were a champion in spearfishing and set nine world records in freediving, but how did Jorge Mario start out, those first nautical steps, at what age?
I started fishing when I was very young, around nine, ten, or eleven years old... I don't remember the exact date, but I began fishing, and from that moment on, I fell in love with it and dreamed of one day becoming a champion in spearfishing, a world champion.
You see, I wasn't thinking about setting immersion records or anything like that, but I dedicated myself completely to it, to the point that I would skip school to go free diving, even while I was in high school. I even repeated a year because I was skipping; I would say I was going to school but would actually go diving... and I loved it!
Supported by a friend who was older than me, Fernando Morán, who had been a great spearfisher, I learned what it is to be a "deep diver" fisherman, meaning someone who fishes at depths where others do not.
In this way, I had more catches, and by the time I was 14 or 15, I was selling fish and had money. By 17, I bought a motorcycle, just to give you an example. Making a living doing something you enjoy is very positive; underwater fishing, aside from being very sporty and fun, provides a tremendous thrill when you catch a lot of fish… hahaha.
And I was doing well at such a young age; but time passed and, incredibly, sport fishing was banned on the island, and that’s something Fidel Castro loved... Of course, he reserved it only for himself! The regulation and prohibition were so strict that, simply put, fishing was not allowed.
They only allowed fishing on weekends, and I had to do what everyone else did: fish in secret, which was difficult. That was a terrible story. They stationed inspectors who would stop people, fine them for underwater fishing, confiscate their equipment, and then those same inspectors, who were corrupt, sold the confiscated gear to others who wanted to fish. It was unbelievable. The things that happened in Cuba... ugh, well, the things that are still happening seem impossible, but they’re even worse.
What happened to spearfishing and sports diving in Cuba? Why do you think an activity in which the country had prominent athletes ended up disappearing?
Underwater fishing in Cuba was eliminated because it was not an Olympic sport and the government had no interest in it. What mattered to Cuba was winning, as I believe it still is today—winning Olympic medals, Pan American medals, Central American medals—but they had no interest in underwater fishing because it didn't yield any results.
The fishing was so, so, so controlled that it was difficult to practice underwater fishing. Of course, for Fidel Castro, nothing was forbidden.
As I told you, underwater fishing was the favorite sport of the "man of stone." And he in Playa Girón, had an area that was only for him. In other words, no one else could fish there. It was monitored, and it was like an aquarium due to the number of fish present. There were fools who sometimes sneaked in to fish there. Poor souls who got caught: in the best-case scenario, their catch was taken away and they were expelled; in other cases, they were imprisoned.
Castro did not like it when others fished, which is why he banned deep-sea fishing in Cuba; it simply annoyed him. You, who are a fan of anecdotes, here’s one for you:
In 1984 or 1985, I don't remember the exact year, they tried to organize a national underwater fishing championship by pairs in Baracoa, a news that surprised us. Since I was the national champion at that time, I chose my partner, and we headed there by bus from Havana to Baracoa. Upon arriving, we jumped in to survey the area.
A beautiful place, Baracoa. I had never been there before. We waited five or six days for them to give the order to start, but... It had been announced: newspapers, radio, television all echoed the news. A serious mistake! You know who saw what was reported in the media and ordered the competition to be suspended: it didn't matter how much effort we competitors put in, the expenses, the lost hope...
The competition didn't take place, and we took the bus back to Havana. Thus ended the last attempt at a spearfishing competition in Cuba. The "gentleman," the "comrade," the "commander" removed it from the plans.
I imagine that with the ban on spear fishing, you ventured into other horizons. Did diving become an outlet for you?
I have been diabetic since I was young, around the age of 26; the doctors told me to forget about diving and underwater fishing. They even prohibited me from riding a motorcycle... hahaha.
I did the exact opposite, although having lived here in Miami for 14 years, I had a heart attack because, unbeknownst to me, I had many clogged arteries and peripheral circulation around my heart that compensated for the major arteries, and I really didn’t realize it… until I had the heart attack and had to undergo surgery.
I was prohibited from freediving again, but I didn’t and don’t pay attention. The company Merck has invited me twice to give talks about motivating those who have struggled and are coming back to life; motivational speeches, just see how badly I’ve been.
And now I respond to your question: Yes, diving was an outlet after I was unable to do what I loved most, which was spearfishing.
In all high-performance sports, sacrifice is essential. My case was no exception; the sacrifice was not only in training, it was in everything. I faced many obstacles, as no one was interested in Cuba, so I had to seek out sponsors.
INDER helped me, Cubanacán helped me, and I had sponsors in Italy who didn’t pay a lot of money, but enough that I could help several friends who were always there for me.
Your career was also marked by the rivalry with Francisco “Pipín” Ferreras. How was that competition really between two Cubans who ended up becoming world references in free diving?
A Pipín I've known since he was practically a kid; I taught him how to fish, although he might deny it now. When we were friends, we would go out together, fish together, but… one day, after he had already set world records, I came along and broke one of his records. What do you think happened? He fought with me.
So it was, one would break the other's record... hahaha... Yes, that’s how it was. Until we became friends again. He invited me to come to Miami in 2001, which was the first time I visited the City of the Sun.
At the moment, he is in Cuba. I respect and admire him; he was a very distinguished athlete in this field, a great one; no one doubts that.
After the records, the challenges, the illness, the emigration, and a whole life connected to the sea, what do you think today of your legacy in Cuba?
I don't know if people in Cuba still remember me. Perhaps the older generation recalls me from when I set the world records. I remember that in Cuba, sports were valued more than anything else.
I have been to Cuba a few times, and sometimes in nightclubs that I’ve visited with my wife, they have recognized me and announced it over the microphone. There he is, so-and-so, who was world champion. And that brings me immense joy, as one would expect. But I don’t think the younger generation knows who I am; so much time has passed.
As someone who experienced Cuban sports in a different era and now observes the reality from Miami, give me your perspective on sports in Cuba, in general.
You know? I would never have left Cuba; my son brought me here; his maternal grandmother brought him without telling me anything, and I couldn't live without him. I had the opportunity to live in Italy; in fact, I married an Italian woman.
"Kid, your life is a novel!"
Not a novel, Julita... Reality! The thing is, I was invited to break a record there, and the INDER thought I was going to stay, so they prevented me from leaving. Well... I got married! And I went, broke the record in Italy, I did well, I got a sponsor... Anyway, when no one was counting on Jorge Mario, I returned to the Island and proved all those envious bastards wrong who said that if I went to Italy, I would stay.
And speaking of novels, I have written a book, Profundamente... mi vida. It is for sale on Amazon. It contains 35 anecdotes from my life; it's a quick read, above all. Unfortunately, people have lost the habit of reading. What people do is watch television and engage in social media; however, the book has been well-received.
Why do you think the book was liked?
Why do I think it's so appealing? Because the book is narrated in an engaging way. It shares delightful stories, though there are also some sad ones; others are tough, but readers don’t know what the next anecdote will be about, which draws them into the reading.
I've even been told by Netflix that they might do something with the book. But I haven't received any answers yet. So they might do it at any time, hopefully.
Pleasant moments you experienced in your career in Cuba
Look, I told you that I lived in Italy, where I found sponsors who paid me. They didn't pay me a fortune, but it was a decent amount, and life was much cheaper than it is now, but I felt a little sad because it was my Cuba.
So I returned, and honestly, it was a wonderful time. I didn't like the government, but I loved the country, so I decided to come back. I was very well received by the then president of INDER, Conrado Martínez Corona.
Additionally, I had Cubanacán as a sponsor; they provided me with boats for training and to set world records. Cubanacán sponsored me, offering me a hotel with a boat and a speedboat for training.
The INDER, especially Cerro Pelado, took care of me. It's true that I had many friends, fellow students, and in that way, they attended to me. I can tell you that I started breaking records at the age of 37.
The years and decades have passed, and I believe that many factors came together to help me do what I did, especially considering that my sport was of no interest to the government at all. I didn’t practice an Olympic sport; it didn’t bring medals to the country... It didn’t matter! The fact that factors converged to lead to success was mere coincidence, along with friendships and goodwill from some.
Cuban sports viewed from Jorge Mario's perspective?
Cuban sports were remarkable at one point, but gradually they began to leave, or better put, they fled in search of horizons that would allow them to live and grow in their respective disciplines.
World and Olympic champions, forgotten, cast aside, with no recognition whatsoever. Some privileged individuals were given a Lada or a used car, without spare parts, tires, batteries, or fuel; others received an apartment. This is for athletes who were the best in the world! That is not motivation; that's why they stayed and continue to stay..
That, not to mention the phenomenon that occurs in baseball, with teenagers escaping to the Dominican Republic with their sights set on MLB.
They should have been smarter, paid them, or let them be professionals and give a portion of the money to the State. They needed to take better care of them, but they never really did it properly.
To give you a personal example. In the 90s, I went fishing in Pinar del Río and at a party, I ran into the Olympic champion of Barcelona 92 Héctor Milián, of all people, asking for a ride! It was truly embarrassing, the best in the world hitchhiking on the side of a highway. And like him, the majority. That was 30 years ago; imagine now that everything is worse... They have to flee in droves!
Jorge Mario García set his first world record in 1989, when he was 37 years old, an age at which many athletes are already considering retirement. From there, he established a chain of nine world records, was a five-time national champion in spearfishing, and became the National Champion of Finswimming in 1974.
All that experience is now channeled into her daily work, in those who want to fish in the depths of the sea while also “playing in the NBA of Underwater Hunters.”
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