This is the generalized political divide between Cuba and the U.S. In all but one instance (Celia and Pilar), the geographic distance between U.S. and Cuba does not help. Some characters use politics as a way to sustain the emotional distance between each other. This is a chicken-and-the-egg question. Which came first: political or personal disagreement? In the end, it does not matter which came first. At times, their political interests also serve as supplements to things missing in their lives. Lourdes' staunch position on American capitalism makes it difficult to bridge the gap between she and Celia and her daughter. But her preoccupation with work and work ethic is what sustains those separations. Likewise, Celia's zeal for the Revolution and her letter writing are supplements for her lack of intimacy with her family. Felicia's supplement is Santeria. Depending on your interpretation, these are opiates or alternatives. There are anti-Marxist and Marxist elements here.

Garcia is careful in avoiding taking sides. Overtly, Garcia's characters have different responses to the Communist/Capitalist debate. But there might be a subtle leaning to the debate. In the novel, many characters who stay in Cuba end up dying (Felicia, Celia?, Javier). And those who "escape" to America, live (Lourdes, Rufino, Pilar, and Ivanito). Pilar's urge is to return to Cuba to complement her nostalgic Cuban identity with real Cuban experience is eventually instigated by a commodified Cuban culture. The oils and herbs she gets at the botanica confirm her resolve to return to Cuba. Despite this American commodification of cultural production, it may simply come down to this: ideologically speaking, Pilar is more free to be (and dream) Cuban and American in America than she would be in Cuba. That may be Garcia's subtle political statement. But her overt statement is that there is no universal Cuban response to the Revolution or American Capitalism. Small or big government, conservative or liberal, the variety of Cuban response is attributed to individualism.