{"id":324483,"date":"2025-06-16T18:51:58","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T22:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=324483"},"modified":"2025-06-16T18:51:58","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T22:51:58","slug":"an-ordinary-father","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/opinion\/an-ordinary-father\/","title":{"rendered":"An ordinary father"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After graduating in Chemical Engineering, he went to work briefly at the Espa\u00f1a Republicana sugar factories, one of the most productive in the country until its final closure as part of the restructuring of the Cuban sugar industry.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The young engineer also sang. In the 1970s, he joined the New Song Movement in C\u00e1rdenas, his hometown. In the 1980s, he began performing as a tenor in the Matanzas Chamber Choir, under the direction of Dr. Jos\u00e9 Antonio M\u00e9ndez Valencia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He participated in those Todo el Mundo Canta festivals and surprised everyone with his vocal work in the Nueva Era Trio. He says that Adalberto \u00c1lvarez invited him to his group, but he was about to become a father and move to Havana: it wasn\u2019t an option.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the difficult years of the Special Period arrived between 1990 and 1993, his son was still young; then he made cardboard toys: ambulances, police cars, robots. He learned to make birthday signs and cake toppers. He learned to cook and sold ice. No one has been able to name it differently; it wasn\u2019t a dessert or a snack, it was powdered soda-flavored ice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He went with his wife and the little one to live with his mother in Matanzas. Every night, for seven years, he would set up a daybed to sleep on next to the sofa where he put his son to bed. In the morning, he had to disassemble the makeshift room to convert it into a foyer, where he displayed his handicrafts for sale.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His closet consisted of two screws behind a door; his clothes, of any size.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He was given a bicycle to take his son to the daycare center, he later sold it buy essentials.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One summer, he took his family to Varadero. When the little boy got hungry, he traveled around the peninsula looking for something he could afford with his local currency. After a long walk, his son asked him, \u201cDad, aren\u2019t we ever going to eat?\u201d And then he burst into tears.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A few weeks later, he started working for the tourism sector in hotels. The cooks gave him food from the buffet tables; he would wrap it up and keep it in the hole of his guitar to evade the guards at the door, because some managers preferred to get rid of leftover food before allowing workers to take it home to their families.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s say this young man is already over 60. He left the hotels after they tried to force him to sing with his guitar around the pool. But he never gave up his job in the Chamber Choir, even though his salary almost never arrived on time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He is a music teacher in secondary schools; he has founded children\u2019s projects and written scores for theater and television, while continuing to prepare the best meals even if he doesn\u2019t have the necessary ingredients. He does the electrical wiring for his house and his children\u2019s house. He knows about plumbing, masonry and sewing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He still makes toys, now for his grandchildren. He invents songs based on poems. He is the best grandfather because he was the best father, and his children strive to be like him every day.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This traditional view, which considers motherhood as unique and irreplaceable, is biased; while fatherhood, in some contexts, is perceived as distant and less committed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This man\u2019s story, like that of many Cuban fathers, illustrates another scenario. In Cuba, where the perennial crisis demands anonymous heroes, being a father is an act of daily resistance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is the story of my father. So, could anyone say he\u2019s just ordinary?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When the difficult years of the Special Period arrived between 1990 and 1993, his son was still young; then he made cardboard toys: ambulances, police cars, robots.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12346276,"featured_media":324485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14135],"tags":[13794,32213,19256],"ppma_author":[34942],"class_list":["post-324483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-fatherhood","tag-fathers-day","tag-featured"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>An ordinary father | OnCubaNews English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When the difficult years of the Special Period arrived between 1990 and 1993, his son was still young; then he made cardboard toys: ambulances, police cars, robots.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/opinion\/an-ordinary-father\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An ordinary father | OnCubaNews English\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When the difficult years of the Special Period arrived between 1990 and 1993, his son was still young; then he made cardboard toys: ambulances, police cars, robots.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/opinion\/an-ordinary-father\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OnCubaNews English\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-16T22:51:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/padre-rey-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1140\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"815\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rey Montalvo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rey Montalvo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/opinion\\\/an-ordinary-father\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/opinion\\\/an-ordinary-father\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rey Montalvo\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1eb7b4d9c78524d4b4cf224c644fbcf1\"},\"headline\":\"An ordinary father\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-16T22:51:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/opinion\\\/an-ordinary-father\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":616,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/opinion\\\/an-ordinary-father\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/padre-rey-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"fatherhood\",\"Father\u00b4s Day\",\"featured\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Opinion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/opinion\\\/an-ordinary-father\\\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2025\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/opinion\\\/an-ordinary-father\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/opinion\\\/an-ordinary-father\\\/\",\"name\":\"An ordinary father | OnCubaNews English\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/opinion\\\/an-ordinary-father\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/opinion\\\/an-ordinary-father\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/padre-rey-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-16T22:51:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1eb7b4d9c78524d4b4cf224c644fbcf1\"},\"description\":\"When the difficult years of the Special Period arrived between 1990 and 1993, his son was still young; then he made cardboard toys: ambulances, police cars, robots.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/opinion\\\/an-ordinary-father\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/opinion\\\/an-ordinary-father\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/opinion\\\/an-ordinary-father\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/padre-rey-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/padre-rey-1.jpg\",\"width\":1140,\"height\":815,\"caption\":\"Photo: V\u00edctor Gabriel.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/opinion\\\/an-ordinary-father\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Portada\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"An ordinary father\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"OnCubaNews English\",\"description\":\"Revista sobre Cuba\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1eb7b4d9c78524d4b4cf224c644fbcf1\",\"name\":\"Rey Montalvo\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/rey-montalvo-96x96.jpg16e19f3fdacdc191ad16c91d49bd217e\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/rey-montalvo-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/rey-montalvo-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Rey Montalvo\"},\"description\":\"Un trovador que vive en Cuba. Graduado de Sociolog\u00eda, escritor, guionista y conductor\u00a0de\u00a0televisi\u00f3n.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/oncubanews.com\\\/en\\\/author\\\/reymontalvo\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"An ordinary father | OnCubaNews English","description":"When the difficult years of the Special Period arrived between 1990 and 1993, his son was still young; then he made cardboard toys: ambulances, police cars, robots.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/opinion\/an-ordinary-father\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"An ordinary father | OnCubaNews English","og_description":"When the difficult years of the Special Period arrived between 1990 and 1993, his son was still young; then he made cardboard toys: ambulances, police cars, robots.","og_url":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/opinion\/an-ordinary-father\/","og_site_name":"OnCubaNews English","article_published_time":"2025-06-16T22:51:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1140,"height":815,"url":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/padre-rey-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Rey Montalvo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rey Montalvo","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/opinion\/an-ordinary-father\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/opinion\/an-ordinary-father\/"},"author":{"name":"Rey Montalvo","@id":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/1eb7b4d9c78524d4b4cf224c644fbcf1"},"headline":"An ordinary father","datePublished":"2025-06-16T22:51:58+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/opinion\/an-ordinary-father\/"},"wordCount":616,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/opinion\/an-ordinary-father\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/padre-rey-1.jpg","keywords":["fatherhood","Father\u00b4s Day","featured"],"articleSection":["Opinion"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/opinion\/an-ordinary-father\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2025","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/opinion\/an-ordinary-father\/","url":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/opinion\/an-ordinary-father\/","name":"An ordinary father | OnCubaNews English","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/opinion\/an-ordinary-father\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/opinion\/an-ordinary-father\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/padre-rey-1.jpg","datePublished":"2025-06-16T22:51:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/1eb7b4d9c78524d4b4cf224c644fbcf1"},"description":"When the difficult years of the Special Period arrived between 1990 and 1993, his son was still young; then he made cardboard toys: ambulances, police cars, robots.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/opinion\/an-ordinary-father\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/opinion\/an-ordinary-father\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/opinion\/an-ordinary-father\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/padre-rey-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/padre-rey-1.jpg","width":1140,"height":815,"caption":"Photo: V\u00edctor Gabriel."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/opinion\/an-ordinary-father\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Portada","item":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"An ordinary father"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/","name":"OnCubaNews English","description":"Revista sobre Cuba","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/1eb7b4d9c78524d4b4cf224c644fbcf1","name":"Rey Montalvo","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/rey-montalvo-96x96.jpg16e19f3fdacdc191ad16c91d49bd217e","url":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/rey-montalvo-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/rey-montalvo-96x96.jpg","caption":"Rey Montalvo"},"description":"Un trovador que vive en Cuba. Graduado de Sociolog\u00eda, escritor, guionista y conductor\u00a0de\u00a0televisi\u00f3n.","url":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/author\/reymontalvo\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":34942,"user_id":12346276,"is_guest":0,"slug":"reymontalvo","display_name":"Rey Montalvo","avatar_url":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/rey-montalvo-96x96.jpg","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12346276"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324483"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":324486,"href":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324483\/revisions\/324486"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324483"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=324483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}