ABOUT Fermin Fleites
The story starts, as most do, at the beginning. Life’s curious way, isn’t it? From science and inquiry to the magic in everyday certainties. I’m about to share with you, dear reader, a tale that might seem more fiction than fact. But isn’t every man’s story his own in this ever-changing universe?
It all began with Antonio Núñez Jiménez, a renowned speleologist. He theorized in his work, “In canoes from the Amazons to the Caribbean,” that the Caribbean’s first inhabitants originated from the Amazon. I hail from one of those Caribbean islands – a place I call the center of the universe, and not without its challenges.
I spent over 14 years gaining knowledge in various fields, all on an island steeped in old-world ideologies, far removed from what many know. My childhood in Tulipán, a modest suburb far from the bustling capital, was filled with small adventures and the occasional holiday.
Tulipán was a place where everything had an answer, almost everything. Here, if you pursued Arts in the capital, enjoyed bands like Zeppelin and King Crimson, you were labeled ‘a bird’, akin to being gay, though not quite the same back then. This label landed me in more than a few street brawls, especially with the ‘black folks of pueblo grifo’ living under the train line bridge, known to be ‘güijes’ – mythical beings from Cuban lore, akin to goblins or gnomes.
In my neighborhood, I was the ‘pájaro’, and at university, a ‘guajiro’ (akin to a provincial). I embraced both identities, weaving them into my own. I wasn’t too shabby – I charmed local girls with discussions on the Universals and Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” and even performed magic spells for teachers seeking job perks in the Capital.
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