Havana/“Communism does not work; it will never work.” Rubén Martínez Machado, the pilot who escaped from Cuba almost four years ago in a Russian-made Antonov aircraft, has things clear. In an interview with the Telemundo network, the man, who is rebuilding his life as a political asylum seeker, regrets that the Island is “much worse.”
Martínez was a pilot for the Cuban Air Services Company, belonging to the Cuban Aviation Corporation, and left the Island from Sancti Spíritus in October 2021. The Cuban chose the city of Lansing, Michigan, far from the Cuban exile, as his place of residence.
“If I’m honest, I always expected a little more support from the Cuban-American community,” he told the same media. The migrant acknowledges that, in part, there was, but affirms that “the influencers “they disrupted history” with the sole purpose of obtaining clicks. “They took it to the point that getting views was much more important than fighting for the freedom of Cuba,” he said.
“I saw that there was a rat trap there, so I decided not to get involved in this,” he commented.
“I saw that there was a rat trap there, so I decided not to get involved in this,” he commented. Martínez said that, at first, there were threats from the regime, to the point that he was accused of being a spy on social media. “In the end, I have remained silent.”
The Cuban recalled, just as he did after arriving in the United Stateswho “had thought about escape for a long time.” However, he explained that “the problem was finding the courage to do things and deciding when was the most opportune time, although in the end, when you do it, nothing goes as planned.”
Martínez said that, when he arrived in Florida, the controller asked him who he was. “I come from Cuba fleeing communism,” he responded. “Oooh,” was what he heard before he was ordered to remain on the aircraft. “Then a person came to play” and, with a “Welcome to the USA”, he opened the door to a new future.
The migrant remained detained for four months. In his first statements after his escape, he stated that “what is happening in Cuba is cruel.” “The regime is abusing people. For me, the decision to repress the people in that way during the July 11 protests, ordering a civil war, was a before and after. I already realized that that made no sense,” CNN published.
Martínez lives alone with his pet, Caramelo. In his new home, a house still unfurnished, an American flag flies.
