The president and prime minister of Cuba during the period of Isabel’s story. Castro institutes a policy during his tenure that anyone who attempts to leave Cuba and is caught will be thrown into prison. When Geraldo tries to escape to Miami via boat, he is thrown in jail for a year. Castro lifts this ban on the day that Isabel’s story begins, and is what prompts her family and many other families to choose to flee Cuba by boat.
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Fidel Castro Character Timeline in Refugee
The timeline below shows where the character Fidel Castro appears in Refugee. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Isabel: Just Outside Havana, Cuba – 1994 (1)
Isabel worries that the Castillos might get caught, because Fidel Castro, Cuba’s president and prime minister, won’t allow anyone to leave the country, or else they...
(full context)
Isabel: Havana, Cuba – 1994
...trumpet, she hears riots start to break out in the street, and people chanting against Castro. Isabel goes to search for Geraldo and Lito. She knows that if her father is...
(full context)
Isabel: Just Outside Havana, Cuba – 1994 (2)
...but Geraldo insists that things aren’t going to get better in Cuba. At that moment, Castro appears on their TV in the living room. He criticizes the riots breaking out in...
(full context)
Isabel: The Straits of Florida, Somewhere North of Cuba – 1994, 1 day from home (1)
...Señor Castillo shows Isabel that at the bottom of the boat is a billboard with Castro’s face on it. Geraldo and the other adults joke about Castro and the failures of...
(full context)
Isabel: Somewhere on the Straits of Florida – 1994, 2 days from home
...staying with Lita and Lito while her parents were fighting. A giant cyclone came, which Castro and the government had not warned them about nor protected them from. Their shack was...
(full context)
Isabel: Somewhere between the Bahamas and Florida – 1994, 5 days from home (2)
...the water. Señora Castillo asks to say a prayer first. Isabel has never been to church—Castro and the communists discouraged the practice of religion—but Lito leads a prayer for Iván. They...
(full context)
