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(soft music playing)
(traffic rumbling)
(speaking Spanish on broadcast)
(radio chatter in Spanish)
(soft music continues)
(dogs barking)
Nanfu Wang: This is a story about Cuba.
(horse whinnying)
But the story began on the other side of the world,
in China.
(car horns honking)
(people chattering)
It was in China that I started to wonder
how people living under authoritarianism
could fight for change.
(protestors shouting in Chinese)
This question led me to become a filmmaker
and to travel far from home to search for answers.
(dramatic music playing)
(wind howling)
(tires screeching)
After many years, it led me
to a young Cuban woman named Rosa María Payá
who seemed to be traveling the same road as me.
(dramatic music playing)
("Piangi Con Me" by The Rokes playing)
(group singing and chattering indistinctly)
(cheering)
(indistinct chatter continues)
(Rosa speaking English)
(music and chatter continues)
(music stops playing)
(subway car whooshing)
(train PA announcement in Chinese)
Nanfu: Years before I met Rosa María Payá,
I was making my first documentary...
(horns honking)
...filming a group of people
speaking against the Chinese government.
(protestors shouting in Chinese)
Nanfu: All of us ended up facing arrest
or physical violence.
(speaker 1 speaking Chinese)
(Nanfu speaking Chinese)
(speaker 2 speaking Chinese)
(train car clacking)
Nanfu: I managed to get the footage out of China
and screened the film around the world.
(protestors shouting in Chinese)
It was at a film festival that my path
crossed with Rosa's.
After the screening, she approached me
and said the film reminded her of life in Cuba.
We spent hours sharing stories about our lives.
We were both amazed by how much our experiences
seemed to reflect each other.
After we met, I scrolled through articles
about Rosa and her father, Oswaldo Payá.
My father was five times nominated
to a Nobel Peace Prize.
He proposed a solution
to democratically transform the system.
(cameras clicking)
(Oswaldo Payá speaking Spanish)
(cheering and applause)
Rosa María Payá: The real goal of the regime
was not just to kill my father,
was to kill his legacy.
That's why they continue the harassment
against my family.
Nanfu: When I met her, her family
had recently fled to Miami.
But in spite of the danger,
Rosa frequently returned to Cuba
to continue her father's work.
I was inspired by her courage
and dedication to making change.
I also wanted to see how people
fought against the authoritarian government
in Cuba compared to China.
So, when she told me she was returning to Cuba
for a protest action with a number of artists
and activists there, I followed along.
(Rosa and Nanfu chattering)
(driver and Rosa speaking Spanish)
(group conversing in Spanish)
Nanfu: When Rosa got home,
many of her extended family and friends
were there waiting to see her,
including one of her closest friends, Saylí,
who would work closely with Rosa during this trip.
(bell ringing)
(TV playing indistinctly)
(family and friends speaking Spanish)
(Rosa speaking Spanish)
(laughing)
(group continues talking in Spanish)
Nanfu: I was surprised by how casually Rosa reacted
to being detained at the airport.
Since making my first film, I have felt nervous
each time I've returned to China.
I never knew whether I would be detained
or if I would be prevented from leaving the country.
Cuba's government also have this power,
but Rosa didn't act like a person who felt powerless.
(Rosa speaking Spanish)
(people speaking Spanish on car stereo)
(salsa music playing on radio)
(car horns honking)
(indistinct chatter)
(people laughing)
Nanfu: This was my first time ever visiting Cuba.
The city felt like it was frozen in time.
But in spite of the feeling
of being in a new, unfamiliar place,
I felt a strange feeling of recognition
as I walked around.
It felt like déjà vu.
(plane engine roaring)
("The Internationale" by Pierre De Geyter playing)
(crowd cheering)
(people singing in native language)
(applause)
Nanfu: For most of my life, all I knew about Cuba
was that it was an island of resistance
to American imperialism.
Growing up in China, I learned in school
that Cuba's Communist Revolution
was a mirror image of our own.
(crowd applauding)
(speaking Spanish)
("The Internationale" continues playing)
Nanfu: As one of the last surviving communist societies
in the world,
Cuba became known to ordinary Chinese
as our little buddy.
- (dramatic music playing) - (traffic noise, sirens blaring)
It wasn't until I moved to the U.S. as an adult
that I was exposed to the American narrative
of Cuba's revolution.
announcer: Havana, 1959,
Cuba was now a base for international communism
in the Western hemisphere.
Now, your leaders are no longer Cuban leaders.
They are puppets and agents of an international conspiracy.
Richard Nixon: We are quarantining Mr. Castro today
by cutting off trade, by cutting off
our diplomatic relations as we have.
We will quarantine this regime
so that the people of Cuba themselves
will take care of Mr. Castro.
(motor rumbling)
news reporter 1: Breaking news out of Havana,
the death of Fidel Castro.
reporter 2: To the end, Castro insisted
his revolution would outlive...
reporter 3: Well, the question is, what will change?
reporter 4: New questions arise about how the country
will change in the wake of his death.
(children chattering)
(bike horn honking)
Nanfu: The U.S. has kept an economic embargo
on Cuba since 1962.
But in all those years, it hasn't forced
a regime change in the country.
As I walked around Havana,
signs of Castro's decades-long rule were everywhere.
But at the same time, it felt like the country
could be on the brink of transformation.
reporter 1: It is history in the making,
President Obama in Cuba.
reporter 2: A lot has changed between the U.S. and Cuba.
We've restored diplomatic relations,
our embassy reopened for the first time...
reporter 3: An American cruise ship in Havana.
reporter 4: Here come the Rolling Stones.
It's shaping up to be a spectacle.
reporter 5: This is a historical moment.
This is the kind of country Cuba is becoming.
It's a changing place.
(soft guitar music playing)
(speaking English)
(phone beeping)
(Rosa speaking Spanish)
(both conversing in Spanish)
(Rosa speaking Spanish)
(Lia Villares speaking Spanish)
(Rosa speaking Spanish)
(Lia speaking Spanish)
(Rosa speaking Spanish)
reporter: Danilo Maldonado Machado,
a Cuban artist and activist better known as El Sexto.
He was arrested the morning after Castro's death,
hours after spray-painting "He's gone" on a wall
and creating this video.
(Danilo speaking in Spanish)
reporter: As an outspoken dissident,
he became international news when he was arrested
in Havana two years ago.
The reason? Controversial art that included the names
of Fidel and Raul Castro painted on live pigs.
(Rosa speaking English)
(Rosa speaking Spanish)
(cameras clicking)
(Lia speaking Spanish)
(rock music playing)
(rock music ends)
(group speaking Spanish)
(Rosa speaking Spanish)
(Lia speaking Spanish)
(Rosa speaking Spanish)
(Lia speaking Spanish)
(Rosa speaking Spanish)
(Lia speaking Spanish)
(Rosa speaking Spanish)
(Lia speaking Spanish)
Okay.
Nanfu: While Danilo was in prison,
a photo of him was circulated along with a note.
The photo showed a tattoo of Rosa's father, Oswaldo,
which Danilo got shortly after Oswaldo's death.
(Oswaldo speaking Spanish on video)
(soft music playing)
(mouse clicking)
(Oswaldo speaking Spanish)
(Rosa speaking Spanish)
(Oswaldo speaking Spanish)
(Rosa speaking Spanish)
(Oswaldo speaking Spanish)
(Rosa speaking Spanish)
(mouse clicking)
(waves crashing on video)
(Rosa speaking English)
(waves crashing)
(Ofelia Acevedo speaking Spanish)
(people speaking Spanish)
(speaking Spanish)
(children laughing)
(Ofelia speaking Spanish)
(family speaking Spanish)
(curious music playing)
(Oswaldo speaking Spanish)
(people chattering)
(music playing, performers singing)
(rainfall pattering)
(Oswaldo speaking Spanish)
(child shouting)
(waves crashing)
(speaking Spanish)
(singing in Spanish)
(dog barking)
(melancholy music playing)
(inaudible)
(Oswaldo speaking Spanish)
(music fades out)
(interviewer speaking Spanish)
(Oswaldo speaking Spanish)
(speaking Spanish)
(ominous music playing)
(tense music playing)
(Rosa speaking Spanish)
(bell ringing)
(crowd chanting in Spanish)
(rhythmic clapping)
(dramatic music playing)
(Rosa speaking Spanish)
(music softens)
- (music fades out) - (insects chirring)
(speaking Spanish, voice breaking)
(somber music playing)
(Rosa speaking English)
(music fades out)
(horn honking)
Nanfu: The Cuban government's crackdown
on Oswaldo's law project
wasn't limited to him and his family.
(indistinct chatter)
Seventy-five people who worked with Oswaldo
on the project were imprisoned.
One of them was the father of Rosa's friend, Saylí.
(Saylí Navarro Alvarez speaking Spanish)
(acoustic guitar music playing)
(Nanfu speaking English)
(Rosa speaking English)
(passengers speaking English)
(suspenseful music playing)
(Rosa speaking English)
(suspenseful music continues)
Nanfu: Oh, my God.
(muttering indistinctly)
Let's see.
Here's their...
(friend speaking Spanish)
I saw this one again, like, right before we came here,
- so tres coches. - Nanfu: Three cars.
(friend speaking Spanish)
(Saylí speaking Spanish)
(Rosa speaking English)
(Nanfu speaking English)
(Rosa speaking English)
Nanfu: Mm.
I don't-- And, that-that's--
Yes.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm?
Mm.
(Rosa speaking English)
(Rosa speaking Spanish)
(engine rumbling)
(brakes squealing)
Nanfu: Now that we knew we were being followed,
Rosa became much more cautious.
She switched cabs often to shake off any pursuers.
(Rosa speaking English)
Hey, hola.
Nanfu: When meeting other activists,
they'd all remove their phone batteries
to avoid surveillance.
(Salsa music plays on speakers)
Even in her own home, she would turn on loud music
to drown out their conversations.
(speaking Spanish)
Nanfu: But one of her planned actions
had to happen on a crowded street.
She went to a public WiFi hotspot,
which was the only way regular Cubans
could access the internet.
(horns honking)
Rosa wanted to livestream on Facebook
calling for the release of her friend Danilo
and other political prisoners.
(Rosa speaking Spanish)
Nanfu: I was surprised to learn
that unlike in China, Cuba allowed access
to many foreign websites, like Facebook.
(speaking Spanish)
Nanfu: But that depended on getting
an internet connection in the first place.
(Rosa speaking Spanish)
Nanfu: With limited access to the internet,
most Cubans still relied on state media for information.
(radio DJ speaking Spanish)
(car engine rumbling)
(Rosa's friend speaking Spanish)
(speaking Spanish)
(Saylí speaking Spanish)
Nanfu: It may have been a coincidence,
but later that evening, her friend Danilo
was released from prison.
- (door closing) - (horn honking)
(dog barking in distance)
(engine rumbling)
(greeting each other, speaking indistinctly)
(speaking Spanish)
(Rosa speaking Spanish)
(speaking Spanish)
(Rosa speaking Spanish)
(insects chirring)
(thunder rumbling)
- (waves crashing) - (sea birds calling)
(speaking Spanish)
Nanfu: One afternoon, while I was filming Rosa
and her friends on the beach...
I noticed that there was a man
pointing his camera phone at me.
(ominous music playing)
When I turned around to get a different angle behind him,
he turned his camera around to film me too.
(ominous music continues)
- (boat motor rumbling) - (waves crashing)
(horns honking)
(horns continue honking)
I found myself looking over my shoulder
everywhere we went.
I didn't know whether or when the security agents
would directly confront us.
It felt just like filming in China.
The surveillance and the intimidation
made it hard to do basic things,
like having a meeting or accessing the internet,
let alone carrying out campaigns
to challenge the authorities.
It was clear that Rosa's plan to coordinate protest actions
was impossible under these circumstances.
So, for the moment, she decided
to return to the U.S.
(soft music playing)
(birds chirping)
(motorcycle zooming)
(spoon clinking, stirring)
(Ofelia speaking Spanish)
(soft trumpet music playing)
Rosa: It was June 6, 2013.
It was hard to arrive in an entirely new country.
I convinced myself that I was just visiting.
So, I was not a typical immigrant.
I didn't want it, to be here.
I was not trying to adapt.
Nanfu: It was easy for me to imagine
what those first few years of separation from her home
must have felt like for Rosa.
(traffic rushing)
I left China in 2011,
not out of fear for my safety like Rosa and her family,
but I did share their view of the U.S.
as a place where people live freely.
Even though I left China by choice,
it will always be my home,
a part of my identity I would never want to change.
My films have been banned in China.
The possibility that one day I could be cut off
from everything that made me who I am
is painful to think about.
(siren wailing)
Walking through Little Havana,
I could feel a sense of homesickness
emanating from the place.
It gave me a painful feeling of recognition,
a dream of home that won't stop recurring,
but never comes true.
(soft music playing)
(waves lightly crashing)
(Rosa speaking English)
- (phones ringing) - (people chattering)
(chattering continues)
(Rosa speaking English)
That yes-or-no question.
(speaking Spanish)
Oh, perfect.
(Rosa speaking Spanish)
(colleague speaking Spanish)
(Rosa speaking Spanish)
- Uh-huh. - Si.
Nanfu: I had seen how challenging it was
for Rosa to operate inside of Cuba.
Now that I was observing her work
from outside the country,
I wondered how she could have an impact on Cuba
from a distance.
It was a question I had been asking
about my own work since leaving China.
(plane engines whirring)
flight attendant: Ladies and gentlemen,
we have been cleared for landing
into the San Juan airport.
In preparation for landing, please bring your seat backs
and tray tables...
(people chattering)
(curious music playing)
Nanfu: I followed Rosa to Puerto Rico,
where Cuban democracy activists were holding a convention.
(conversing in Spanish)
Nanfu: Sixty-five different organizations were represented.
Some of the activists came from inside Cuba,
but the majority were living in exile.
(activist speaking in Spanish)
(Cuban National Anthem "La Bayamesa" playing)
(all singing "La Bayamesa")
Nanfu: I had never seen this level of organization
among Chinese dissidents.
There is so much infighting and division
among Chinese activists, that I couldn't imagine them
all gathering in one room adopting shared principles.
So, I was curious to see what this conference
could accomplish.
- speaker: Viva Cuba Libre! - crowd: Viva!
(activist speaking Spanish)
(speaking Spanish)
Nanfu: It wasn't long before the meeting
devolved into chaos.
(speaking Spanish)
Nanfu: After observing three days of the conference,
I was surprised by how little I learned
about this group's plan to achieve its goals for Cuba.
Looking around the room,
I noticed that there was very little representation
from the younger generation of Cuban activists.
(speaking Spanish)
Nanfu: Rosa was one of the youngest people
in the room, yet many of the people here
clearly respected her.
(speaking Spanish)
I kept an eye on her as the arguments
grew more intense.
If she was feeling any frustration
at how the conference was playing out,
she wasn't showing it.
(attendee speaking Spanish)
(Rosa whispering in Spanish)
(speaking Spanish)
(people chattering)
(Rosa speaking English)
(insects chirring)
(loud dance music playing)
(speaking Spanish)
(music continues playing)
(dance partner speaking Spanish)
(speaking Spanish)
Nanfu: From the moment I first met Rosa
to this moment in the bar, I had never seen Rosa
do anything unrelated to her activism.
(voices echoing)
(calm music playing)
I was unprepared to see Rosa in such an unguarded moment.
I found myself wondering what life
might have been like for her had she not lost her father.
In this moment, something became clear to me.
Rosa was a young woman who had given up a normal life
filled with moments like this one
to follow her dream for Cuba.
(calm music continues)
(waves crashing)
(sea birds calling)
(bell tolling in distance)
The next morning, Rosa said something
that surprised me.
(elevator dings)
She asked me not to use the footage
of her dancing in the film.
She explained that it wasn't the version of herself
that she wanted the world to see.
(elevator doors open)
We talked about it for a long time.
I explained that I thought it would be meaningful
for people to see her in that moment.
She didn't seem totally convinced,
but eventually, she dropped her objection.
(ambient street noise, cars honking)
Rosa: If the Cuban regime wouldn't exist,
I would be taking care of other issues in my life.
But I'm taking care of that issue,
not because they decided, but because I decided.
I understand, too, that I'm missing
other parts of life.
But I... I came to terms with that.
(dramatic music playing)
(ambient airport noise, people chattering)
(applause)
speaker: Rosa María Payá is the daughter
of Oswaldo Payá,
the most accomplished democracy advocate
in Cuban history.
(applause)
(Rosa speaking Spanish)
Nanfu: As I continued following Rosa,
it felt like I was witnessing a transformation.
When I first met her, she seemed to be known
primarily as Oswaldo Payá's daughter.
(speaking Spanish)
Nanfu: Now, she was being stopped on the street.
(speaking Spanish)
(camera clicking)
Nanfu: People I spoke with who knew Rosa
had similar observations.
(speaker 1 speaking Spanish)
(speaking Spanish)
(cameras clicking)
(speaker 2 speaking Spanish)
- (cameras clicking) - (reporters chattering)
Nanfu: Rosa had gone from filming herself
on the streets of Havana to being filmed
by dozens of TV cameras.
(inaudible)
(cameras clicking)
It became difficult to keep up with Rosa
as she jetted from one country to another.
And so, it was around this time
that our paths started to diverge.
(ultrasound whirring)
Just as Rosa was undergoing this transformation...
(machine beeping)
...my life changed too.
(soft music playing)
Becoming a mother changed the way
I saw the country where I was living.
Until this moment, I had a casual relationship
with America.
(subway tracks squeaking)
But my son was Chinese American.
Once I had a child here, the relationship
became permanent and irrevocable.
I became involved in this country's future.
- (protestors shouting) - (weapons firing)
And as I looked around me, that future seemed dark.
reporter 1: Evidence of a growing trend,
hate crimes in the U.S.,
the latest attack in Portland, Oregon.
reporter 2: Have been increasing reports of hate crime...
reporter 3: Those are the words of the president.
"Why are we having all these people
from shithole countries?"
reporter 4: Basically, democratic norms are being...
reporter 5: The rights of minorities,
freedom of the press, and of the rule of law.
reporter 6: So, there's a lot of people doubting the system.
reporter 7: Further erosion of American political institutions
continuing a seven-year trend.
Nanfu: I left China and came to the U.S.
because of this promise of democracy and freedom.
But what I was seeing did not feel like a democracy
that was functioning properly.
crowd (chanting): Build the wall! Build the wall! Build the wall! Build the wall!
(protestors shouting)
Nanfu: I started to worry that the country
where I had chosen to raise my child
was becoming less fair and free,
and possibly even hostile to people like him.
(solemn string music playing)
(music fades out)
It had been a while since I'd seen Rosa,
when one day, I was watching TV.
Little Havana. Ah.
Havana, we love. Do we love it?
(crowd shouts in English)
Now, this is an amazing community.
The Cuban American community.
There's so much love, I saw that immediately.
(crowd member shouts in English)
Thank you, darling.
Oh, do I love you too.
(laughter)
crowd (chanting): Trump! Trump! Trump!
(cheering and applause)
(suspenseful music playing)
Nanfu: I never would have imagined these two people
standing on the same stage.
Was Rosa there to show her support?
Or was she there for more pragmatic reasons?
Thank you.
Nanfu: I listened to the whole speech
for clues about what led Rosa to that stage.
Very brave people.
The exiles and dissidents here today
have witnessed communism destroy a nation,
just as communism has destroyed every single nation
where it has ever been tried.
(applause)
Nanfu: It was in this moment that I began
to sense a difference between Rosa and me,
despite our similar backgrounds.
(classical music playing)
(people chattering)
Not long after her appearance at Trump's rally,
Rosa attended an event held by an organization
called the Victims of Communism Foundation.
(announcer speaking English)
(classical music continues)
(speaking English)
We are bound by our understanding of communism.
As what? As a pseudo-religion
that deserves to be buried deep in the ash heap of history.
(applause)
Nanfu: Despite having been raised in a communist society,
I would never describe myself as a victim of communism.
I experienced repression in China,
but it felt disingenuous to blame that repression
on an ideology like communism.
(soft music playing)
I grew up reciting the definition of communism
in school every morning.
(speaking Chinese)
But as I grew up, I looked around.
Nothing I was taught about communism
or socialism was reflected in real life in China.
The reality I saw bore more of a resemblance to capitalism.
Small numbers of people control most of the wealth.
(sewing machines rattling)
Workers are exploited.
The goal is to maximize profit.
(applause)
Even China's government seems to realize this,
and in recent years, it has worked hard
to remind people that the country
is actually socialist,
but with Chinese characteristics.
(Xi Jinping speaking Chinese)
(speaking Chinese)
Nanfu: I've come to realize that in China,
the words "communism" and "socialism"
are used as propaganda tools.
They conjure a utopian ideal
that justifies the state's policies.
(dramatic music playing)
Since moving to the U.S.,
I found that the words "communism" and "socialism"
also are exploited by politicians here.
(speaking English)
reporter: New evidence of communist activities
in government circles is promised
by the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
Nanfu: I had thought that Americans learned
from the Red Scare that politicians
were spreading fear of communism
so that they could exploit that fear.
I thought of it as a moment in this country's history
that had come and gone.
But clearly, this was not the case.
But you know what the biggest threat to America is?
Not socialism in Moscow.
- Socialism here in America. - (cheering and applause)
They want to take your pickup truck.
They wanna take away your hamburgers.
This is what Stalin dreamt about.
A vote for any Democrat in 2020
is a vote for the rise of radical socialism
and the destruction of the American Dream.
(crowd booing)
There are probably more Marxists
on college faculties in the United States
than there are in all of Eastern Europe combined, okay?
(applause)
Thank you so much, Governor, Lieutenant Governor...
Nanfu: Since Rosa and I first met,
I felt that we had an unspoken understanding
about each other's experiences and perspectives.
But now, I realized
that I shouldn't have made assumptions
about what she believed.
Would you call yourself anti-communism?
Totally.
All the communist regimes that are still in place in the world,
but especially in Latin America, and especially Cuba,
they are also criminal enterprises.
It's-- it's a great evil that we need to eradicate.
Nanfu: What do you think of capitalism?
Capitalism is a-- it's a-- it's another economic system.
But it's not actually the counterpart to communism.
The counterpart to communism is democracy.
And of course, capitalism has a lot of flaws.
Actually, all these criminal organizations in power
in communist regimes are capitalists.
The Cuban state's a greedy apparatus.
They are capitalists.
Nanfu: It's interesting to hear you say
Cuba is capitalism.
My father called it "Capi-Castrismo."
(chuckles) "Capi-Castroism."
Yes, they are capitalists.
Just, you cannot be, you as a regular citizen,
you cannot have private property.
You cannot have an enterprise with a foreigner.
But they do it all the time.
Nanfu: So, what is an ideal society?
Is there a country in the world
that is closest to that kind of system
that you're envisioning for Cuba's future?
There is no-- an ideal system in the world.
But democracy is definitely, um, the less of the evils.
So, yes, I want a democratic Cuba.
I want a nation in which we...
live under our own terms, which is our leaders.
And we change our leaders.
(string music playing)
Nanfu: This freedom to choose that Rosa talked about
was what drew me and many Chinese people to America.
But what I found ironic was how many immigrants
from authoritarian societies embraced American leaders
with authoritarian tendencies.
President Xi, president for life.
President for life? That sounds good.
Maybe we're gonna have to try it.
- (cheering and applause) - Maybe we're...
President for life.
(speaking Chinese)
(emotional, voice breaking)
Nanfu: I understood and sympathized
with what these people went through.
But it felt dangerous to blame communism for repression
when the real threat is authoritarianism,
which can take root in both communism and capitalism.
Mr. President...
I encourage you to indict Raul Castro, Díaz-Canel,
and all top officials of the regime.
And very importantly, I encourage you
to designate the Cuban military, its intelligent services,
and the Cuban Communist Party
as foreign terrorist organizations,
because their relation with the crime
and the narco-terrorism threatening the region.
Our movement, Cuba Decides,
is a national and global initiative
to force the Cuban regime to submit
to the will of the people, and leave.
It is imperative that all the nations in the free world
support the Cuban people's fight for change,
because the victory of democracy in Cuba
is essential to open the path to peace, prosperity,
and stability in the whole hemisphere.
Please accept these cufflinks...
with the coat of arms of the Republic of Cuba
as a symbol of the friendship between our two people,
and also as a symbol of our appreciation
for your actions and your solidarity.
Thank you so much, Mr. President.
- Thank you very much. - I'm looking forward
to working together with you very soon
for the streets of a free Cuba.
- Thank you so much. - Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. Well, I want to thank everybody.
I will not forget what I heard today,
it, uh, it's very moving.
It's a very tough situation, and, uh,
we've made a lot of progress, as you probably have seen
and you know.
And I have a feeling you won't be disappointed.
And by the way, 2020 is very important.
Very important. So, but this election coming up
is a very important one.
(protestors shouting)
(dramatic music playing)
Nanfu: As shocking as the aftermath
of the 2020 election felt in the moment,
it wasn't totally surprising.
My fear as I watched was that this
would just be the first of many similar moments
for American democracy.
I thought of Rosa, whose central goal
was voting rights for Cubans.
I had to know whether she still supported the person
who had done so much to undermine democracy in the U.S.
(clicks recorder)
Can you say something, and I check the audio?
Hello, Nanfu. How are you today?
Nanfu: Great.
So, we can-- we can start.
Rosa: Okay.
Nanfu: Can you tell us about what this moment is?
- First what the-- - Could you run it?
Because I don't remember what he said.
- Okay. - (Rosa chuckles)
Let me see.
crowd (chanting): Trump! Trump! Trump! Trump!
Little Havana.
(Rosa laughing)
I love it.
I was in more than one of his activities.
And I think that this one was the first one.
Actually, I didn't know that I was going to be right there.
Uh, but they invited me, and I-- and I of course went.
Um...
I believe that this one was the speech
in which he, um, announce that, uh...
many of the concessions that the Cuban regime had
from the previous administration were going to be removed.
So, that was probably why I was there.
Nanfu: What do you think of his politics?
Regarding Cuba, uh, I believe that he could go
farther and more strategic than he went.
I do appreciate, uh, several actions that he do,
as the one that I mentioned.
Nanfu: Do you support his politics outside of Cuba?
I do not follow, to be honest, all-all-- all his politics.
And we, uh, as protocol, we try to remain, um...
to remain nonpartisan, non-political in that way.
Nanfu: In America, many saw Trump
as an authoritarian figure and attacked democracy.
- Mm-hmm. - Could you expect somebody
attacking democracy in his own country
to support demo-- democratic changes
in Cuba, actually?
Does he-- like, does somebody like Trump
really care about Cubans' democracy if...?
I don't know what one person has in his or her heart.
Uh, I would love to see, and to be sure
that everybody has the most clean expectations,
feelings, and motivations.
I also care about the actions.
I also care about the consequences of those actions.
And that's what I ask for
when I have a meeting with a president,
that president being Trump, or being Biden.
In order to be free, we need all the support
that the international community can give us.
So, it means that I'm going to meet,
and I'm going to ask for support
to each person that can give it to us,
of course, as-- as long as we are not talking
about a totalitarian regime,
we are not talking about a murderous regime.
But any democratic government in this world...
well, I'm going to knock each of those doors.
(conversing in Spanish)
Nanfu: Off-camera, Rosa told me about her fears.
She worried that she would alienate her supporters
on both sides.
Liberals might be disappointed
that she didn't criticize Trump,
while conservatives might fault her
for not endorsing him.
I understood Rosa's situation.
She was trying to navigate a polarized society
that demanded people take clear sides.
(people chanting) USA! USA! USA!
I was born here! You can't tell me to leave!
You're not looking at facts. Look for facts!
- You're a fascist! - I'm a fuckin' fascist!
Nanfu: The pandemic had left the country even more divided.
(car horns honking)
In this moment, Rosa and I both tried
in our own ways to do something for our home countries.
I made a film about how the U.S. and Chinese governments
have mishandled the outbreak, showing that those in power
prioritize political interests over public health,
regardless of whether they are in a communist
or capitalist country.
(somber music playing)
Rosa had collected food and medicine
for people in Cuba, but the Cuban government
confiscated the shipments.
Images sent to me from Cuba by a camera person
showed a desperate situation.
reporter 1: Inflation, food and medical shortages,
and COVID running rampant...
reporter 2: An economic crisis exacerbated by the pandemic,
and no access to...
reporter 3: Angry over shortages of food and medicine,
and repeated electricity outages.
Nanfu: The prospects for change seemed as bleak
as they had ever been.
But then, in July 2021, something changed.
(shouting in Spanish)
- (car horns honking) - (tires screeching)
(loud smack)
(onlookers shouting)
(shouting in Spanish)
(interviewer speaking Spanish over phone)
(speaking Spanish)
(soft music playing)
Nanfu: The scale and suddenness of the protests
surprised everyone, including Rosa.
There was no single event or person who sparked them.
They seemed to just happen.
I could sense Rosa's excitement.
(Rosa speaking Spanish)
(interviewer speaking Spanish)
(speaking Spanish)
(uplifting music playing)
(protestors shouting)
Nanfu: All over southern Florida,
Cuban exiles seemed to be full of hope
that this could be the beginning
of democratic change in Cuba.
(shouting in Spanish)
(speaking Spanish)
(shouting) Viva Cuba Libre! Viva Cuba Libre!
(air brakes hissing)
(tense music playing)
(Cuban citizen speaking Spanish)
(protestors shouting)
(shouting continues)
(dog barking)
- (protestors shouting) - (baby crying)
(shouting in Spanish)
(shouting continues)
(distraught Cuban citizen 1 speaking Spanish)
(distraught Cuban citizen 2 speaking Spanish)
(crowd shouting)
(distraught Cuban citizen 3 speaking Spanish)
- (shouting continues) - (tense music continues)
(shouting continues on phone)
(music fades out)
(Rosa speaking English)
(calm music playing)
(protestors speaking Chinese)
(protestors chanting)
Nanfu: When the Tiananmen Square protests
happened in 1989, I was three years old.
(singing in Chinese)
(music and singing continues)
Nanfu: I wouldn't hear about it until I moved
to the United States as an adult.
China went to extreme lengths to erase the protests
from its history.
And it continues this effort today.
When I did finally learn about the demonstrations,
I was around the same age as the protestors.
I saw myself in them.
(protestors continue singing)
There was so much hope, so much idealism.
It was a moment when the possibility
of democracy in China felt most palpable.
(gunfire and explosions)
I've wondered often about what China would be like today
if the protests had succeeded in reforming the country.
(people chattering)
(people shouting)
Now, watching something similar happening in Cuba,
I find myself asking how a movement for change
can succeed against such a powerful adversary.
(shouting continues)
Rosa: You need pressure coming from abroad
to force that regime to submit to the will of the people.
(speaking Spanish)
(reporter speaking Spanish)
(Rosa speaking English)
interviewer: What can the Biden administration
do to support the Cuban, uh, people?
The U.S. should apply individual targeted sanctions
against the repressors,
against the ones that are ordering the military
to shut down young people in the streets.
(Rosa speaking Spanish)
(speaking Spanish)
Nanfu: From one interview to another,
Rosa repeated the same list of requests.
But the topic of the embargo kept coming up.
One of the things talked about on social media
and by politicians is the U.S. embargo on Cuba.
(protestors shouting)
reporter: The embargo has been a highly volatile issue
in South Florida since it was implemented in 1962.
The poll shows Cuban Americans
are split right down the middle.
We don't want intervention. Lift the blockade.
We need to maintain this embargo to try to keep pushing
the end of that dictator communist socialist.
The biggest support the Biden administration
would offer to the Cuban people is to lift the sanctions.
(speaking Spanish)
I would like to know, Miss Payá, should the embargo be lifted?
The international community is very, very clear
that the embargo has no moral basis
and should be lifted.
That's-- that's your opinion. The people on the street
is not asking for the lifting of the embargo.
It's asking for the end of the dictatorship.
But we need the end of the dictatorship...
Nanfu: At first, I was surprised
that Rosa didn't advocate lifting the embargo.
It seemed like a simple way
of improving the quality of life
for ordinary Cubans.
It was only through our off-camera conversations
that I learned Rosa's real opinion about the embargo.
She worried that lifting the embargo
would benefit the Cuban government
more than its people.
(speaking Spanish)
Nanfu: In interviews, whenever she was asked
about the embargo, she would deflect,
arguing that the embargo was a distraction
from the real problem, the Cuban government.
The Cuban people is not demanding
the end of the embargo in the streets.
They are demanding the end of the dictatorship.
They were not asking for the end of the embargo,
they were asking for the end of the dictatorship.
Nanfu: Shortly after the outbreak protests in Cuba,
Rosa was invited to a congressional hearing
about how the U.S. could support democracy in Cuba.
We urge the U.S. government not to make
unilateral concessions to the regime.
Thank you for this opportunity,
and thank you to the American people.
Thank you very much.
Nanfu: It was clear early on that the embargo
would dominate the meeting,
and the members from both parties
have made up their minds on the subject.
I just want to point out that I, myself,
have been a long-time opponent of lifting the embargo.
Our biggest trading partner of the United States
is a communist country, China.
We have no embargo against China.
This insane notion that lifting the embargo
is going to somehow provide freedom
for the Cuban people is crazy.
It's absurd, and the only...
Nanfu: It wasn't long before the two parties
started attacking each other.
The Cubans are on the street, and no one is paying attention,
including the Biden administration.
Those in the Republican party have a lot of nerve
suggesting that they are the-- the champions of freedom
in another country, when they are engaging
in suppression of the people's right to vote and freedom here.
If I make a-- a call, a request for all of you,
it's to please, to listen to what the Cuban people
is demanding on the street.
At-- at the highest possible risk, which is life,
they are demanding freedom.
They are demanding the end of the dictatorship.
Please, do not politicize that.
(people chattering)
Nanfu: Beyond a few statements and some additional sanctions
against Cuban government officials,
the U.S. government's Cuba policy barely changed
after the protests.
(guitar music playing)
Witnessing Rosa's disappointing encounter with Congress
and watching this opportunity for change in Cuba come and go,
made me reflect on the years I've spent watching Rosa fight.
I had followed her from the streets of Havana...
to rallies and conferences across the world...
(applause)
...to the halls of power in Washington,
and I didn't feel any closer to understanding
where change will come from than when we started.
(dramatic music playing)
I decided to sit down with Rosa
and watch everything we had been through together.
(Rosa speaking English on film)
Rosa: ...and in our actions.
We need all the support the international community...
(person shouting in Spanish)
Nanfu: As I sat here thinking about everything
I had experienced, it felt just as easy for me
to imagine Cuba and China becoming free
as it was to imagine America sliding into autocracy.
It seemed rational to feel powerless
in light of everything I'd seen.
Did you feel discouraged by seeing
what you have tried to achieve,
and yet very little has been changed?
(sighs)
Uh...
I feel...
frustrated.
But I do not feel discouraged.
I feel the opposite.
How many times before you saw hundreds of thousands of Cubans
chanting "Freedom" and "Down with the dictatorship"
in the streets?
I mean, if that's not something that give you hope,
I don't know what is it.
(sirens wailing in the distance)
If we get to the conclusion that we are powerless,
then we are.
That's the most comfortable position
for an authoritarian to convince you
there is nothing you can do.
(sirens wailing)
If we stop ourselves even before trying,
then they already won,
and they base their strategy on that.
(people shouting)
That's why there are 1,000 Cubans
in jail right now, because the Cuban regime
cannot live with those guys in the streets.
They are trying to prevent what all those Cubans
could one day do.
Saylí is in jail.
And many other Saylís.
The main factor is that the Cuban people want change
and is ready to risk everything for that change.
Nanfu: Thousands of people were arrested
for participating in the protests.
Rosa's friend Saylí was sentenced
to eight years in prison,
and her father was sentenced to nine years.
The government gave them a choice:
leave Cuba forever or serve the full sentence.
(sea birds calling)
(Saylí speaking Spanish)
(dramatic music playing)
(all chanting in Spanish)
(speaking Spanish)
(all chanting in Spanish)
Nanfu: For years, I tried to understand
how ordinary people could create change.
(protestors chanting in Chinese)
But change isn't like a story with a beginning and an end.
(cameras clicking)
(speaker 1 speaking Spanish)
(speaker 2 speaking Spanish)
(speaking Spanish)
Nanfu: Change grows slowly, unseen,
with its roots tangled in history.
(speaking Spanish)
Nanfu: But then, suddenly,
it can spring up out of nowhere.
(shouting in Chinese)
Nanfu: In 2022, China saw its largest protests
since Tiananmen Square.
(shouting in Chinese)
Nanfu: Hearing chants of freedom
echoing through Chinese streets felt like a dream.
(protestors shouting)
(dramatic music playing)
(shouting in Chinese)
Nanfu: I've now come to realize that optimism is a choice.
It's choosing, even when no clear end is in sight,
to remain defiant until change becomes a reality.
(shouting in Chinese)
(protestors continue shouting)
(voices fade out)
(Latin music playing)
(performers singing in Spanish)
(music fades out)