Mambi Blood

Rafael Bencomo Aquino, son of Rafael Bencomo and Petrona Aquino--my mother's grandfather, and my great-grandfather--fought with the Ejercito Libertador commanded by the General-in-Chief, Maximo Gomez and Mayor Generals, Antonio Maceo Grajales and Calixto García Íñiguez, during the Cuban Independence War in the province of Santa Clara, Narciso Lopez Regiment and died at the age of 106. An avid storyteller, he passed on his Mambi blood to all his descendants.

As a child delivered with a two-week expiration date, I spent my first five years absorbed by his Cuentos de Titanes, the title of one of my novels in progress. This tree of life that is my legacy inspires me to write impeccable truths, not to recover the anguish of an unfathomable past, but to rewrite my Personal Narrative from a perspective of strength, compassion, empathy, forgiveness, and love.

I hope my cuentos/stories inspire immigrants with similar life journeys to find solace, for the biggest loss that a sentient being can experience is the loss of the homeland. A tree with clipped roots yields a beauteous bonsai, nevertheless, a reduced version of our full potential until we reclaim our wholeness as a people.

Peace is attained one heart at a time. And history repeats itself when we choose to ignore it. May humanity see the day when children ask with foreheads wrinkled in a frown, “Mom, what is war?”

With love and gratitude to all my ancestors,

Mariel Masque

Great-grandfather Rafael Bencomo Aquino smoking his cigar, his daughter (my grandmother) Felicia Bencomo hands resting on his shoulders, my parents, Ada and Tito, the couple to the left, and yours truly squatting and admiring the grandest storyteller of all times.

Photo by a family member, Habana, Cuba late 1950s