A former Swiss People’s Party politician emigrated to Cuba more than 20 years ago. Now he is back in Switzerland with his family due to the crisis in Cuba.
In the early 2000s, Mark Kuster was considered a great young hope of the Swiss People’s Party. Acquaintances and the media were all the more amazed when the then president of the Young Swiss People’s Party changed his life plans in 2003 and emigrated to Cuba. He had fallen in love with the country during his vacations. Once there, he founded a children’s charity – and a family.
Now he is back in Winterthur, where the Tages-Anzeiger visited him for a portrait. Kuster reports on untenable living conditions in Cuba, which have deteriorated drastically again after tightened US sanctions. Another motive for the move is his children.
“The quality of the education system has also fallen sharply. As a Swiss father, this is a major reason to enable my children to do an apprenticeship in Switzerland.”
However, Kuster does not really want to gain a foothold in Switzerland. He continues to run his aid organization from afar and dreams of returning to the Caribbean island when the crisis is over. – “if my wife and children still want to”.
Translated from German, sub-edited by Anand Chandrasekhar