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“After Year One” – Stories of Home excerpt

Meet Yilandy Ramirez Frometa

 

 

This is an excerpt from the KRM impact report, Stories of Home, originally published in 2023. “After Year One” was written by Daniela Gamez Salgado, Communications & Development Specialist – KRM Lexington (formerly Cuban-Haitian Caseworker – KRM Louisville).

Yilandy Ramirez Frometa studied law in Cuba and became a lawyer specializing in housing in Old Havana in 1996. She worked alongside the municipality of Old Havana. “No one dared to think differently,” she says as she reminisces about the natural political nature of the job and the times the government officials would advise the lawyers not to express themselves in a certain way.

Her passions were redirected into her own projects as she created her own business in 2012. She named her first store Octava Maravilla, also known as the Eighth Wonder and stocked the shelves with party supplies. She later added toys to the shelves as well. She wanted to bring more joy to the lives of Cubans on the island and her store thrived through celebrating celebrations. Following economic reforms on the island, the Cuba Emprende project was created that same year and was sponsored by the Catholic Archdiocese of Havana. The course provided participants with the tools to create and manage a business successfully; the opportunity to network with other like-minded individuals; and specialized advisory services to guide them through the process. Yilandy completed the Cuba Emprende course in 2013 to learn how to better run her business. Shortly after, she employed others and later grew the business by establishing three other locations. By 2014, she had stopped practicing law and focused entirely on her business endeavors and staff of twenty people.

Her success with Octava Maravilla inspired her to try something new. Yilandy decided to open up a florist shop located directly in front of the United States embassy in 2017. Although she did not dream of moving to the United States, the proximity to the building of many windows was almost a metaphor for what was to come. During that same year, a hurricane passed through Cuba and flooded the streets shared by the florist shop and the embassy. Yilandy was able to re-open her shop after the flood, but the zone where her shop was located later became a non-commercial zone and all businesses were removed from that area. The embassy closed the same year following a series of mysterious brain injuries labeled as “Havana Syndrome” that affected many U.S. diplomats and intelligence officers working in Havana in 2016. This mysterious phenomenon was later concluded to be most likely caused due to pulsed electromagnetic energy produced by an external device.

The years passed by and Yilandy focused on maintaining and developing her businesses. She focused on growing one day at a time. She was doing well economically and was able to find a stable source of income to put food on the table for her and her staff. Once again, she did not dream of the United States. Not until a Sunday morning on July 11, 2021. She woke up to a call from her daughter. “Did you see Facebook?” shouted her daughter. She was referring to the videos circulating of protesters that filled the streets of San Antonio de los Baños, near Havana. Yilandy had seen firsthand the shortage of food and medicine and the government’s response to COVID, but she never expected a mass response by her fellow countrymen. She ate breakfast with her daughter, got dressed and began marching through the streets with her neighbors. “I would do it again if I had the chance,” Yilandy says. She felt fulfilled because she was doing something that she was never able to do, however, she knew the consequences that followed. “Many people were taken away and imprisoned,” Yilandy remembers. She saw many young people, especially those who were more vocal on social media, imprisoned for expressing their beliefs and discontent with the Cuban government. Her neighborhood had small, previous incidents of pushing back police harassment and repression, however she knew that this history of push-back was built over time due to scarcity and repression by the state. COVID further exacerbated the supply system problems and made navigating daily life more difficult and dangerous especially since medical treatment was unreliable due to lack of supplies. The videos of the protests Yilandy recorded that Sunday remind her of the time the people of Cuba took a risk and expressed themselves singing Patria y Vida (Homeland and Life) to signal for change instead of chanting the traditional Cuban slogan Patria o Muerte (Homeland or Death).

In the next few months, the consequences of those who participated in the protests became more apparent as more people were imprisoned and Yilandy noticed how repression from the state showed up in her own life. Her businesses had been fined and the reasoning behind it did not seem justified. She believed the unreasonable fines were likely to continue and decided to prepare for a change. The first from her immediate family to leave was her stepson. He moved to Peru to join his mother. Her daughter went ahead to the United States and chose New York to stay with friends. Yilandy’s partner also followed to the United States and chose Kentucky to stay with friends. Yilandy had to tie up loose ends and transfer her businesses to others and stayed behind. She also hoped to sell her belongings, however, she was not able to organize her exit from the island how she had wanted. Her education in law came in handy since she had previously applied for a visa and traveled to Mexico to continue her post-graduate education through a program offered for Cuban professionals. Luckily, the visa had not yet expired, and Yilandy had the capital to book a plane ticket to Mexico. During the month of November 2022, she traveled alone to Mexico. On December 10, 2021, she presented herself at a port-of-entry to request asylum. She was later reunited with her partner in Louisville, Kentucky.

“You get here to the United States, and you’re faced with such a great liberty that you feel like your value as a human matters.”

“In Cuba, since you are born, they are always instilling fear about the United States, and once you are here, it is the complete opposite – it is like they plant a seed of hate in you for a country you do not really know,” Yilandy says, as she looks back at this past year. She did not know anything about Kentucky. Well, she did know one thing – the Ku Klux Klan, she had read about them and was concerned about her new home, but her friends reassured her that Louisville was a city that welcomes immigrants and refugees and as far as they knew, the Ku Klux Klan would not be a daily problem.

During her first year in the United States, she has experienced more good than bad while living in Louisville. “Kentucky Refugee Ministries walked by my side as I began learning English and began adapting to the climate and customs,” Yilandy says. Her favorite place in Louisville is the Big Four Bridge. She likes seeing the contrasting bridges connecting Indiana and Kentucky that show how the cities have evolved over time. During her eleventh month in the United States, Yilandy received her Employment Authorization Document that allows her to legally work in the United States. Once she had her EAD, she went to the Social Security Office to get her Social Security Number. From there, her first instinct was to put her entrepreneurship experience to use. She decided she wanted to create a cleaning business and filed for a Limited Liability Company. Her LLC is named 8M after her former businesses in Cuba Octava Maravilla. She is in the early stages of forming her business, but she has passion and perseverance – the key ingredients to her success. In the meantime, she has secured a subcontract with City Wide Facility Solutions.

She has noticed the incoming stream of Cuban immigrants to the city of Louisville, Kentucky, and whenever she meets someone who is in the same position as she was a year ago, she reminds them that everything will get here with time; give it your all; and to be grateful that they have fled from the system of communism and have been welcomed by opportunities and by people who will guide them. “This is a country full of opportunities and we can open ourselves up to these opportunities by giving our maximum effort, studying the new systems of this country, and learning English,” Yilandy says. She is hopeful for the future and once again she is taking everything day by day. “You get here to the United States, and you’re faced with such a great liberty that you feel like your value as a human matters,” Yilandy says.