Gloria Ordaz Sparks Reflection with Childhood Photo: "No Cuban Child Should Have to Leave to Dream"

Gloria Ordaz, a Cuban journalist and anchor at Telemundo 51 in Miami, shared a poignant black-and-white photo of her childhood in Cuba on her official Facebook page this Monday. Accompanying the image was a heartfelt reflection that quickly resonated with thousands of Cubans living abroad.

"I look at the girl I once was, in uniform and neckerchief, and I think of how many generations of Cuban children have grown up under the same slogans, the same indoctrination, and the same promises of a better future," Ordaz wrote alongside the photo on her Facebook profile.

The journalist bluntly highlighted the human toll of over six decades of dictatorship: "The failure of the Revolution is also measured in these terms: in the dreams deferred, in the families torn apart, and in the countless children who today grow up unable to envision a prosperous future in the land where they were born."

She concluded her post with a personal wish that encapsulated the sentiment of an entire generation: "I had the opportunity to forge a different path. My hope is that one day no Cuban child will have to leave Cuba to dream freely."

Reflecting on a Past Under the Regime

Ordaz has spoken publicly about her childhood under the regime before. In March 2021, she shared a similar reflection, recalling being "a child whom the regime indoctrinated daily," forced to chant the slogan "Pioneers for communism, we will be like Che" at school assemblies, believing she was "a student of the homeland."

She also revealed the moment her perspective shifted: "One day I grew up and realized that everything I had been told about Che, the Revolution, the history of Cuba, and even more terrifyingly, that the Americans wanted to invade us, WAS A BIG LIE."

Building a New Life in America

Ordaz arrived in South Florida in 1998 at just 20 years old and built a career in Hispanic television in Miami spanning over two decades from scratch.

Her personal story strikes a chord in a context where the Cuban regime continues to involve children in political events, and pioneer indoctrination remains prevalent in the Island's classrooms. In June of this year, Cubans on social media mocked the pioneer oath, noting that those who recited it in schools are now scattered around the world.

The slogan "Pioneers for communism, we will be like Che!" was adopted in 1968 and remains a central element of Cuban school events to this day, while the exodus of entire families shows no signs of stopping.