'I feel free. So free': A Cuban woman's path to U.S. citizenship

On a trip last year to visit her family in Havana, Naples resident Aty Gonzalez, 38, recalls looking out the window of her taxi as she traveled to her childhood home from the airport.

She saw houses with collapsed walls and caved-in roofs. Balconies hung from teetering façades by mere splinters.

But it was more than just the buildings that were crumbling, she said. It was people’s spirits, too.

Gonzalez remembers what it was like before she left. She remembers withering under the restrictions of the Castro regime and wondering if she would die without ever leaving the island. She remembers dreaming about what lay beyond the horizon and how she would ever get there; freedom was just 90 miles away.

For the last six years, Gonzalez has been living that dream. And on Thursday she learned she’ll be able to live that dream forever.

“I passed! I’m so happy!” she cried as she stepped out of the exam room at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Fort Myers.

As reality sank in, she breathed a sigh of relief.

“I feel free — so free,” she said.

Gonzalez began experiencing the pains of communism at a young age. Throughout middle and high school, she said she was sent to work in government-owned tobacco fields alongside hundreds of other schoolchildren. The practice was Cuba’s attempt at offsetting the economic decline — a result of the U.S. embargo.

As she grew older, she felt increasingly stifled by the watchful eyes and ears of clandestine government agents; she didn’t dare speak her mind. Living in Cuba, she said, felt like being imprisoned.

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Music became her escape. She learned to play guitar, compose songs and sing.

At first, it was a mental escape.

“When you play music, you’re in another world. You’re in a better world,” she said.

One day it became her physical escape. Gonzalez had begun playing professionally with several bands, and one was invited to perform in Italy.

When it came time to return to Cuba, Gonzalez, who was in her third trimester of a pregnancy, was told she wouldn’t be allowed to board a plane.

Her son, now 9 years old, was born an Italian citizen — the Castro regime would not allow him to live in Cuba. The Italian government granted Gonzalez a visa, and she lived there with her son for three years.

But Gonzalez still had her heart set on America. Her father and his side of the family — his parents, wife and children — all lived on Marco Island and in Naples. They had been among the mass exodus of Cubans who fled the island in 1980 when Castro temporarily allowed his people to leave as part of the Mariel boatlift.

Within a year of settling in Naples, Gonzalez met her husband. She obtained her green card and continued her career as a musician, making money from performing in churches. Seven months ago Gonzalez gave birth to her second child, a boy.

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Gonzalez said she’s happy in Naples, although she still misses home. She misses the lively streets, the soulful music and the warm, welcoming people. She misses her mother, grandmother and brother, all of whom she shared a home with until age 28.

“Cuba, it is beautiful,” she said. “But communism is not.”

“People in Cuba feel like they can’t do anything, they can’t go anywhere, and they can’t even think.”

The regime has destroyed her home, she said.

Five years after moving to the U.S., Gonzalez applied for citizenship. She said it would be the most important thing she would ever do.

Gonzalez submitted the 20-page application and $725 fee as soon as she was eligible. She enrolled in a citizenship class through Literacy Volunteers of Collier County, where she met the man who would spend the next year preparing her for the U.S. citizenship interview and exam.

His name was Bill Nichols, but she called him “teacher.”

Nichols, 78, has been teaching citizenship classes since 2012. He had successfully tutored 49 students to pass their citizenship interviews, and on Thursday, Gonzalez became his 50th.

“She’s one person who I knew would do just fine,” he said. “I had no doubt in my mind.”

Nichols spent the bulk of his career as an IBM executive while simultaneously serving in the International Guard. He also spent time in the Air Force.

Although it would make for a pretty story, Nichols said his combined 29 years in the military has had nothing to do with his passion for spreading his love of country.

“It’s very emotionally rewarding,” he said. “They want to become citizens very badly, and once they do it, they are just overjoyed. They hug you like crazy.”

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Nichols walked Gonzalez through the naturalization process. He explained that after submitting the paper application, it could take up to a year before immigration services set a date for the interview. For Gonzalez, it took 11 months.

The interview would be comprised of four parts, Nichols said: an oral question and answer portion; a written portion; a reading portion; and a 10-question multiple choice American civics test, of which interviewees must get six correct.

An applicant who fails gets one more chance. Fail a second time, and you must start from the beginning and resubmit the paper application, along with the $725 fee.

Since 2010, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has naturalized an average of 712,500 citizens each year, according to USCIS statistics. In fiscal 2016, the center welcomed 752,800 new citizens; Cuba was among the top five countries of origin for naturalization, alongside China, India, Mexico and the Philippines.

Of all the people from all the countries whom he’s taught, Nichols said his students from Cuba have been the most “desperate” to gain their citizenship.

“They have no desire to go back at all. They do not like Castro at all,” he said. “And when they want something that badly, they’re going to do the things they need to do to get there.”

Gonzalez spent nearly a year preparing for the interview. The day before her appointment, she met with Nichols for one last review session.

“What are the ways citizens can participate in government?” Nicholson asked.

“Vote and run for office,” Gonzalez said.

“What are two rights for everyone in the United States?”

“The freedom of speech and freedom of religion.”

“During the Cold War, what was a main concern for the United States?”

“Communism.”

But Gonzalez didn’t need to study the answers. She’d already lived them.