Havana Motor Club (2015)

Jose 'Jote' Antonio Madera: Self

Quotes 

• Jose 'Jote' Antonio Madera : This engine came from a boat. Boats like that are used to smuggle people. They're made by Americans. The boat ran aground. It was captured on the border by our Coast Guard. They removed the engine and threw it overboard. So then a Cuban guy put on scuba gear and dragged out the engine.

• Jose 'Jote' Antonio Madera : I don't mind when people get parts abroad. If you're able to send for parts, good for you. I make them.

• Reynaldo López : Do you feel anything in particular going on in the car?

  Jose 'Jote' Antonio Madera : Yeah, in first gear. I came here once before and you said there was a problem in first gear.

  Reynaldo López : Really?

  Jose 'Jote' Antonio Madera : You start it and pow-pow-pow.

  Reynaldo López : But when you're driving it feels good?

  Jose 'Jote' Antonio Madera : It's like a piglet. It sounds like a piglet eating. Chock-chock-chock.

• Jose 'Jote' Antonio Madera : The hardest thing about living here is that there's no life for an honest man. I make a living working. But they won't give me a work permit or materials. They allow you to sell bread and croquettes from home. What's that? I don't do that. My life is working here with cars. I'm working here now but tomorrow the police could come and take it all away.

• [first lines] 

  Jose 'Jote' Antonio Madera : Why do I race? It makes you bigger. It gets you a little more respect. When we race, we race in the streets.

• Jose 'Jote' Antonio Madera : This Monday. This Monday, back to the water. Rafters are people who try to leave Cuba illegally by water. It's someone who tries and tries again and again until he drowns - or gets there. That's a rafter, that's what I think I am.

• Jose 'Jote' Antonio Madera : Everything remains the same with less and less. Dreaming? Yeah, dreaming is nice. You dream that you're preparing your car for that day. But the next day you wake up, without a damn cent, without a damn part, and you can't go anywhere.

• Jose 'Jote' Antonio Madera : I'm just one of many. I'm a citizen of this country. But what I want is to leave.

• Jose 'Jote' Antonio Madera : Over there everything is uncertain. My world's here. I know everybody here. If I have nothing to eat, I just go to the house next door. That's the best thing here - the solidarity. I think it's better to be here racing a car. I think so.

• Jose 'Jote' Antonio Madera : I feel like a jackass. I spent everything, lost my car, and I'm still here. I deprived my family of many things pursuing a goal that I failed to achieve. Always thinking that I'd be able to help them more.

• Jose 'Jote' Antonio Madera : I'll tell you what happened in the past eight months. I tried to leave five times. For my first attempt I sold my workshop. We built a makeshift raft and went out to sea. But it broke down. We had to turn back. But I still wanted to emigrate. I went back and sold my gearbox. I sold my tires. The second time we got far. I saw it, the glow of the U.S. But the American Coast Guard caught us. They brought us back to Cuba. We spent three days in a Cuban prison. Then they let us go. And I still wanted to emigrate. Then I sold it - my engine. We built another raft, left, and got caught by the Cuban border police who threw us in jail. After that, I stopped trying.

• Jose 'Jote' Antonio Madera : When you think that all is lost, that's when things turn out best. The telephone rang, an unknown number. I thought it might be a racing fan asking if I"m going on Sunday. It was Carmita and he sent me the money he owed! I thought he'd ripped me off. He sent me $2,000! I said, "Shit - $2,000!" I went and bought a new engine for my car.