Azucar and Sazon of Cuba

By Taylor Hillman and Issel Navarrete

BA History Students at Cal State East Bay

By 2025, Celia Cruz will be the first Afro-Latina woman featured on US currency. She has come to represent the “sazón” of Cuban immigrants who live primarily in places such as Miami and New York. From Little Havana in Miami to Hudson in New York City, the Cuban immigrant experience thrived, and Celia Cruz was an icon that represented resilience. Celia Cruz’s music was not only a reminder of immigrants' sacrifices to achieve the American dream but also a connection to Cuba and their homeland. Celia Cruz became known as the “Queen of Salsa” to all Latin Americans because she represented both culture and a powerful voice. Her personal history embodied the stories of children of immigrants raised without the privilege of traveling to their native country to see family. Given that the United States is a land of immigrants, it is a fitting tribute to put Celia Cruz’s image on national currency as a representation of all immigrants and their children in America.

Celia Cruz was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1925, growing up in a diverse neighborhood that connected her with Afro-Latina culture (Bodenheimer 2016, 27). Her family would take her to cabaret shows to practice singing and performing, where she fell in love with the craft. Cruz later studied music theory at Havana’s National Conservatory of Music in 1947 before starting her turbulent and controversial career as a performer. Celia’s political interest blossomed when she began to participate in the Popular Socialist Party, which was a pre-Revolution communist party in Cuba. It was there that she disguised communist meetings as concerts (Bodenheimer 2016, 75). These moments shaped her into a proud Cuban woman who wanted to advocate for her people, but this would also lead her to leave her homeland forever.

Through the rise of Fidel Castro’s in Cuba, the meaning of socialism and communism changed. Celia was once a proud party member, but to Celia, Castro made socialism into a dictatorship. She became an opponent of Castro publicly and denounced his leadership. Castro also victimized her for being Afro-Latina and dark-skinned, which became a prevalent issue in Celia Cruz's life. During an event when Fidel Castro and Celia Cruz were in attendance, Celia refused to bow to Castro, which signaled disrespect to Fidel. Cruz and Fidel’s rivalry later peaked when she was part of the band La Sonora Matancera, which was outspoken about their hatred for Castro’s leadership and abuse of socialistic systems (Bodenheimer 2016, 12). Once Celia traveled to Mexico for a performance, Fidel Castro exiled her and refused to let her return to her homeland. Celia Cruz was misguided by her management team, who was aware of the consequences, by telling her to fly to Mexico in July of 1960. Her management team assured her that she would return within a few days, however she discovered taht traveling outside of Cuba was illegal and she would never see her family again (Pollack and Belviso, 2020). Celia Cruz was exiled from Cuba, but she continued to make music and became an even larger hit in the Americas, where she went on to win Latin Music Awards in 2003 (Haroacio 2018). Celia Cruz was outspoken about her political beliefs and her hopes that Castro’s reign would fall so she could return home.

Celia Cruz represented Cubans who had left with a one-way ticket out of Cuba. Celia's position against the government was respected by her fans in Miami, and she hesitated to perform with people who sided with Castro or those who dismissed the abuse Cubans faced under his reign (Center for a FREE Cuba 2020). Many of her fans identified with her for leaving Cuba for bigger dreams by leaving her whole culture and family behind.

“Back in Cuba, Castro banned Celia’s music from all radio stations. Since Celia had defied him and left the country, he wanted to erase her from Cuban culture and history” (Pollack and Belviso, 2020).

Fidel Castro thought it would be a negative influence on his people since Castro feared they would idolize her and copy her anti-Socialist ideas. Celia and Fidel’s feud went on for years even after Celia Cruz's mother passed, and she requested that the Cuban government grant her permission to her to attend her mother's funeral; Fidel did not allow her back in. Being an immigrant, who, even in times of sorrow, could not return home, resonated with many immigrants in the United States (Pollack and Belviso, 2020).

Celia was known for her branded sound “Azúcar” meaning sugar which became a part of her iconic sound and stage presence. Celia began to use Azúcar to represent her culture of Cuba, alongside her distaste for the communist rule in Cuba. When Celia passed in 2003, her fans wrote “azúcar” in graffiti everywhere in Cuba, highlighting her legacy even though she was exiled. Castro called for it to be taken down, but it would only reappear over and over again (Fernandez 2006). Azúca represented the resilience of the Cubans who were not allowed to listen to her music in the first place but still wanted to commemorate her impact. Celia was a representation of themselves against Castro. Even though Celia Cruz had the fame to get around some obstacles of citizenship by leaving Cuba without significant repercussions, she stood up for what she believed in and never bowed to Fidel Castro.

The United States announced that Celia Cruz will be the face of the US Quarter by 2025, leading her legacy to be brought into the limelight again. Cruz is a shining light for Cuban immigrants in America. She represents pride for her homeland while embracing the unknown of immigrating to a new country, still connecting to her culture through music and style. Celia Cruz’s talent went beyond her roots, and she accomplished notoriety even with the odds stacked against her. Celia was Afro-Latina and an immigrant, banished from her home country by a ruler bent on ruining her image, but she always prevailed. Celia Cruz is a beacon of hope for many United States immigrants, proving that you can embrace your culture and be an activist while also facing the odds that are stacked against you. Celia Cruz represents the pain and power that comes with being a vocal Afro-Latina woman, and her legacy will live on as a permanent piece of American and Cuban history.

Bibliography

Bodenheimer, Rebecca M. “Cruz, Celia.” Oxford African American Studies Center. May 31, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.73729.

CFC. “CubaBrief: Remembering Celia Cruz 17 Years after Her Passing, and Setting the Record Straight on the Smithsonian Institution’s Omissions about Her Life.” Center for a FREE Cuba, July 16, 2020. https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/7/16/cubabrief-remembering-celia-cruz-17-years-after-her-passing-and-setting-the-record-straight-on-the-smithsonian-institutions-omissions-about-her-life.

Fernandez, Raul A. From Afro-Cuban Rhythms to Latin Jazz. Berkeley, University of California Press, 2006. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1ppccc.

Pollack, Pam and Meg Belviso. Who Was Celia Cruz? New York: Penguin, 2020.

Sierra, Horacio. “The Cuban-American Sound Machine: Nostalgia and Identity in the Music of Celia Cruz, Gloria Estefan and Pitbull.” International Journal of Cuban Studies 10, no. 2 (December 1, 2018). https://doi.org/10.13169/intejcubastud.10.2.0238