Cuban Day Parade in Union City! Live Report!

Photos: Frances Martel & Idania Martel

The Best Parade in Years! Completely Crowded Bergenline Avenue! Cubans Show their Pride for Union City! Latin Americans show their support for the Cuban Community! The Cuban Youth takes to the Streets by the Thousands! ¡Viva Cuba!

¡Rotundo éxito de la Parada Cubana o Desfile Cubano de New Jersey en Union City! ¡El pueblo le muestra su cariño al Alcalde Brian Stack!

Union City Mayor and NJ State Senator, Brian Stack, Always with the Cuban Community, celebrates Cuban Day Parade in Union City!

¡En West New York aclaman a la asambleista estatal Caridad Rodríguez, mientras el pueblo espera el Día de Independencia del dictador Sal Vega! ¡Miles apoyan a comunidad cubana en Hudson County en este día de celebración de la herencia cubana! ¡Organizadores hacen billete con bandera cubana pero estamos en democracia! ¡El Gordo desfila por Bergenline, La Flaca en fotos exclusivas se ríe ¿de los cubanos o de la patria que jamás menciona en su show de chismes?¡Gran Día para el cubano como usted y como yo y para los que nos apoyan sinceramente de manera tácita y humana! ¡Buen Día para los organizadores de la Parada con el Billete en el Siete! !Magnífico Día para nuestro Hermano Tilo Rivas y la comunidad dominicana que nos apoyó! ¡Mal Día para los políticos que dicen: “ya en Union City el voto cubano no existe”! ¡Sal Vega se come un Cable (Sal Vega eats a cable)! ¡Lucio Fernández GANADOR DE LA PARADA Y NO COMPRO LA ENTRADA! ¡WINNER: UC POLICE GANADOR DE LA PARADA: NI UN INCIDENTE Y NADIE PERDIO EL DIENTE! ¡GRABAMOS BEMBE Y NOS DEPOJAMOS! ¡CINDERELA Y SPIDERMAN EN LA PARADA! ¡ABUELO LEVANTA UNA JEVA! ¡QUE BOLA! ¡TRANVESTIS EN LA PARADA! ¡STACK CON CORZINE PERO NO SUBE LOS TAXES! ¡TREMENDO RELAJO!

One more year Cubans in Hudson County celebrate their heritage in the Desfile Cubano de New Jersey. It’s a celebration of our contribution to this country as well as a business opportunity for the organizers, who are also fervent patriots. Most Hudson County politicians are ready and willing to show their faces at the parade. Very few, like Union City Mayor Brian P. Stack is always there for the Cuban community in all events. Others show their faces in election time. Others having been in the White House for eight years have never cared to show up, not for the Cuba parade nor for any other parade. It is a festive time for the populace, always ready to welcome the festivities. It must be a new experience for the recent arrivals from Cuba, who have probably never seen a parade like this, where you can express yourself freely, or even in the middle of West New York, speak about the Liberation of West New York. Other politicians are Cuban Americans who condemned the parade last year, prohibited it to pass by its town, and today had the cara de palo (face of stick) to walk through the streets, almost against their will, certainly against their questionable patriotic convictions.
CUBAN PRIDE: The Old Cuba and The New Cuba: United under the Nation that sheltered its sons and daughters from tyranny, both united in The New Jersey Cuban Day Parade.

Since early this morning the famous Bergenline Avenue at the intersection of 45 Street: the heart of the Cuban Community in Union City, had a large crowd of Cubans and Latin Americans walking, shopping in the Avenue and waiting for the parade that was, by word of mouth, rumored to start at 5:00 PM (after being rumored to start at 4:00, then at 3:00, then at 2:00…). Some Cubans have brought beach chairs and conduct lively debates on the sidewalk. There’s a visible UC Police presence everywhere. There are groups of young people from Latin America and Cuba in colorful motorcycles parked along the Avenue. There is an old man with a Guayabera proudly smiles and looks at a young beautiful Cuban girl who passes by. Dominos in different colors are displayed at the now legendary El Waterloo store on the corner of 45 and Bergenline. By five o’clock the Cubans are out: there are thousands of them in the streets from West New York to Union City. They are the young rapper-looking kids, the trajeado family man or gavilán and the always beautiful and unique Cuban women, from all ages, waving Cuban flags, they have come this afternoon to reclaim the Avenue they rebuilt in the 70’s with their sweet and proud looks, with the hard work of their people.

There are many nationalities showing their pride in their colors. There are hundreds of dominicanos, boricuas, peruanos, and of every country in Latin America. I feel a strong sense of pride watching my compatriots in the streets and so many people supporting us. It’s Cuban pride day.

Brian Stack passes by, the crowd cheers, ¡Viva Brian! It’s 6:30 in the afternoon on June 1st. 2008.

It’s 6:55 PM and the crowds have grown larger. It’s clear that this is one of most successful parades ever. La Flaca from El Gordo y La Flaca pass by. You can’t even walk on Bergenline Avenue, that’s how crowded it is. There must be thousands in the streets. The people have answered to the Cuban Community, which has been generous to all Latin Americans in this area.

The parade marches on at this time. We are reporting live from Bergenline Avenue, Union City.

Our site will share with our readers exclusive images from today’s parade, Sunday, June 2 2008.