Political concerns push migrants to search for their roots on the old continent

After more than three decades of living in the southern state of California, the Cuban artist, Kareena Novo, who is 55 years old, found herself at a difficult crossroads, after years of trying to restore her artistic activity after the “Corona” pandem For her eighty father, but also because of the escalation of political tensions in the United States with Donald Trump’s return to the face of the political scene again after winning a second presidential term, and threatening to deport illegal immigrants.

“I could not focus on singing, nor on the real estate field, and I have to take care of my father and I had to put it in a care house. My health was negatively affected,” says Karina.

By May 2024, given the political climate in America and the return of extreme tension again given the Trump campaign, which was at its peak, the pressure on the immigrants, including Karina, who said: “I felt that the matter exceeds my possibility, and I decided to leave the United States, and return to the roots in Europe, it is true that the pressure of the work was what prompted me to this decision, but the political situation made me not to understand what could I face it later, ”noting that the dream of immigration to America has turned into a reality of living in Europe.

Living in Spain

When Kareena told her father Jose about her decision, he reminded her that they always have the option to return to Europe, specifically Spain, where they can apply for Spanish citizenship through the “democratic memory law” that gives the descendants of the Spaniards who immigrated or persecuted during the Spanish Civil War the opportunity to restore their nationality.

Kareena Novo, born in Cuba, moved to the United States at the age of 21, but her Spanish roots returned to her grandfather born in Spain, so she decided to apply for Spanish citizenship, and her father persuaded her to accompany her, saying: “Please do that, I do not want to die in this country.”

As a result, Karina sold her property and began arranging her new life in Spain, despite a pre -failed experience to travel there due to her father’s injury to the Corona virus in 2022, explaining: “It was the only time that she tried to travel with my father to Spain on a cruise that started from Fort Lauderdel in 2022, and my father suffered (Corona) before we arrived in Spain long, And we had to get off the ship in the Azour Islands, where my father was hospitalized.

Before leaving California, Kareena informed her father, who survived bladder cancer, that they must be agreed on everything.

Searching for a residence

In September 2024, Kareena and her father arrived in Spain, in possession of six bags and a tool for walking was used by her father, and soon contacted her 20 -year -old son, who is still studying at the University of California.

After that, Kareena started searching for her residence and her father, and spoke with real estate brokers to choose the best site in Spain to live.

“At first, I was determined to move to Malaga, along the coast of Andalusia, but the prices of housing are high,” Kareena said, noting that one of the brokers suggested that she think about the town of Fenewinshol, near the Andalusian coast, which is characterized by flat terrain that facilitates her father to move in, in addition to the decrease in the cost of living in it.

She added, “We found an apartment of about 111 square meters in the city, and close to the beach, where my father’s dream was to live near the waters of the Mediterranean, and the monthly apartment rent was 1050 euros, which is a small part of what we were paying in California for the residence.”

The family did not reunite

Weeks after the arrival of Kareena and her father, Jose, Spain, her mother Gloria (73 years old) and her mother’s husband Caesar (87 years old) joined them on a short visit, and completely like Kareena and her father, after returning to the United States, the couple decided to sell their property and move to Spain as well, and they settled with Kareena and Jose, and they started to apply for Spanish citizenship.

“The political situation in America, along with the high costs of living, prompted us to leave. Life here in Spain is closer to our Cuban culture, and at lower costs,” Caesar said.

Caesar whose family sent to Spain for the first time when he was 14 years old to escape military service in Cuba, he lived for a period with relatives there before he later migrated to the United States, where he met a Galoria in Miami, and lived for years in a residential complex for adults with fixed income in Monrovia near Pasadina.

Cesar and Gloria, as the Cuban who lived in the diaspora there, had visited Spain with the intention of tourism several times, and given that the Spanish is their mother tongue, their transfer to Spain and living in it was easy.

Cesar stressed that their lives have become better in Spain because they can do many things in Spain with less costs than life in the United States. About CNN

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Hundreds of stories

The Cuban journey, Kareena Novo, and her family, represents a story of hundreds of stories for migratory families looking for stability and reassurance, and after they once dreamed of life in the United States, this Cuban family found that Europe, specifically Spain, may eventually be the most appropriate place to live calmly and dignity.

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A difficult decision

Kareena Novo, her mother Gloria and her husband Caesar after the family’s reunification in Spain. From the source

By January 2025, Kareena Novo’s father was suffering from health problems.

And it became very difficult for her to take care of him at home, so they together took the decision to send him to a care house, close to Marbella, 20 miles from the town in which Karina, who said she felt the conscience was reprimanded, and asked if her father brought to Spain was wrong.

She added, “But he always tells me that he loves the place, and that he spends long hours as he watches the sea, eats his favorite food, and Spain speaks with everyone.”

She explained that the expenses of the care house are about 2,300 euros per month, which is much lower than the California Care House, and includes physical therapy, the possibility of visiting a psychiatrist, all living expenses and meals, in addition to daily activities.

Kareena indicated that she is talking to her father on a daily basis, as she visited him twice a week in his own room overlooking a garden, which makes the care house more like a care house, as she described it.

She emphasized that the main reason for her transfer from California to Spain is to seek to improve the quality of her life and maintain her mental, emotional and physical health, noting that she feels that her goal with her family is somewhat.

Kareena finally moved with her mother Gloria and her husband, Caesar, to an apartment larger than they lived in the town of Fenewkallala, and overlooks the sea from a wide balcony in the heart of the city, with a monthly rent of 1400 euros.

Kareena pointed out that her livelihoods in Spain are equivalent to almost half of her expenses in Los Angeles.

She said that when she gets a permit to work as a Spanish citizen, she plans to return to the work she loves, which is singing throughout Europe and helping those who are thinking about moving to Spain to search for housing.

She confirmed that she loves California, but it is time to leave, and she is not regretful because she found her life in Spain very comfortable as well.

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Quality of life

Caesar and Gloria confirmed their harmony with the new life in Spain. About the source

Caesar admitted that it took some time to cope with the Spanish bureaucracy, and slow the course of things compared to the United States, but he pointed to the quality of life in Spain.

Caesar compared his recent departure from the United States and his arrival in Spain with feelings similar to that he had when he left Cuba for the first time in a long time, when he left everything behind him in two times.

He said, “I realized when I left Cuba that I would not return to it again, and I have the same feeling now.”

For her part, his wife Gloria said that “people, the style and ways of living really talk about herself in Spain,” noting that she left Gloria Cuba as a young woman, when she was employed as a flight attendant at the BanMM in Miami.

She and Cesar lived in Florida after her divorce from Jose for many years before moving to California.

“American life was very difficult, especially during the years that followed the” Corona “pandemic, but the quality of life here makes life very comfortable, where food, people and weather in this part of Spain really adore it.” Gloria continued: “Our life in the United States was good, where I spent half of my life, but I missed my family members in Cuba, and unfortunately things go out other than what we wish, and life continues, so life continues. I have to try to enjoy what I have in the best way I can, as I am now 73 years old. ”

. Some Cuban immigrants have the option to return to Europe, specifically Spain, and obtain citizenship through the “democratic memory law”.

. Kareena Novo, born in Cuba, moved to the United States at the age of 21, but its Spanish roots give her the right to submit a request to obtain citizenship.