My Lost Cuba
Page 35
Don Miguel lived in Cuba until he suffered his first cattle and land confiscation in 1959. The government accused him of having been a counterrevolutionary. He was in Venezuela on a business trip, and hearing the charges, he remained. He worked in the purebred cattle business with former clients and died in 1980. Patricia left her position in the bank, also confiscated, and moved to Venezuela with Don Miguel, where she worked as a systems analyst for a series of banks. They never had children. After the death of Don Miguel, she retired and moved to Miami, where she now lives with her sister, Carmen, in Coral Gables.
Adelaida and Jose Maria left Cuba after the sugar mill confiscations of 1960. They moved to Jeanerette, Louisiana, where Jose Maria worked as a consulting engineer specializing in sugar mills. He is now semi-retired and works in Central America and Mexico, modernizing and taking care of sugar mill equipment. Adelaida makes frequent trips to Miami, where they have a small apartment. They have never returned to Cuba.
Lourdes and Julio were briefly reunited in Havana, but Julio continued as vice president in a stock investment house in Miami. Lourdes joined him there. They divorced three years later. Lourdes bought a condominium in Key Biscayne, and Julio lives in Coral Gables. Lourdes is very active helping the Cuban refugees in Miami. They have never returned to Cuba.
El Gordo and Maria remained in Havana, but after the passing of the Agrarian Reform, El Gordo, with Rigoberto, took his yacht to Miami and left it there. In 1960, after all his properties were confiscated, he moved with Maria to the Dominican Republic and became active in the sugar business. In 1974, they retired to Palm Beach. Both died without ever returning to Cuba.
Carmen and Pepe left Havana in 1963 and went to Miami. Pepe worked as an hourly construction worker, and later on, started repairing homes on his own. He died in 1982. Carmen worked as a seamstress and developed a large and profitable customer base of predominantly exiled society women. Carmen makes periodic visits to see her family in Pinar del Rio, bringing them money and clothing. Patricia and Carmen visited their parents in Cuba before they died. Patricia never returned to Cuba after the death of her parents. Carmen and Patricia now live together in Coral Gables.
Laureano returned to Cuba in 1959, and became active in politics and a member of the opposition to Castro. Because of his ideas, the Castro government considered him a counterrevolutionary, and he left for Miami in 1960, where he continued his relationship with Elvira. They married and had a child before he joined the training camps of the “2506 Brigade” in Guatemala. He never returned from the Bay of Pigs. Elvira lives in New York and in Madrid. Her son studied in the United States and now works in Geneva for an international bank.
Estrella and Georgina remained in the house in Havana. When Mike left, he left Estrella in charge. Mike provided her with a large sum of money. Estrella lived in the house with Georgina until it was confiscated, and she moved back to Santa Isabel de las Lajas, where she died. Georgina did not follow Estrella. She left for the United States, married, and lives in Miami.
Ricardo and Cuca moved to Venezuela when Don Miguel hired Ricardo to work with him there. After Don Miguel’s death, Ricardo continued to work for the same cattleman until his retirement in 1985. Cuca made periodic visits to see her parents in Cuba. Ricardo never returned.
Paulino and Elena remained at the plantation. Paulino did not work for Don Miguel after March of 1959. He helped at the Gomez plantation, drove his taxi, and sold beverages and food at the baseball games played by the San Joaquin team. He had a fight with Manuel when he objected to the handling of Don Miguel’s farm by the Instituto Nacional de Reforma Agraria (INRA). Thereafter, Paulino and Elena moved to Panama, and owned a small bodega in Panama City. Paulino continued to write. Some of his articles were published in Panamanian newspapers. He had a collection of short stories published in Mexico.
Manuel and Julieta married in 1959, and moved to the Gomez plantation. Manuel, to the consternation of Mike and Don Miguel, became an avid supporter of Castro, and after the first confiscation of their cattle, he began to work for the INRA, managing the breeding and selection of purebred cattle. After Ricardo left, he became the head of the large state farm that used Don Miguel’s farm as its nucleus. Julieta kept the family plantation until the 1963 second agrarian reform. Julieta divorced Manuel in 1970 and now lives in Union City, New Jersey. They never had children.
Rita continued to work with the telephone company and married Facundo in 1960. His bank transferred him to a bank branch in El Salvador, where they retired.
Dr. Rico and Cristina were married in 1961. They moved to Union City, New Jersey.
Dr. Andres Comillas returned to Cuba in 1959 and stayed until the mid-1960s, when he left for Spain to practice law. When he returned to Cuba, he had contacted Esmeralda, who never called him back. He died in Madrid in 1975.
Esmeralda left jail on January 1, 1959. She continued to be active in the 26 of July Movement and was by hired the Education Ministry, but became disillusioned with the status of the reforms, and left for Mexico in 1966.
The Minister sought political asylum in the Peruvian embassy in January 1959, and went to the Canary Islands, where he died in 1976.
The Sergeant was captured by the rebel army and faced a summary trial in Havana. He was found guilty and shot by a firing squad.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I WOULD LIKE to thank everyone who helped and encouraged me in writing this book. I have to start with John Guare, who, at a dinner one night more than ten years ago, told me to write, not to translate. Valerie Levy, read my first draft and encouraged me to finish it, while Patricia Arostegui de Cossutta read all the different versions. Phyllis Thompson Reid became my first editor, while she was teaching at Harvard, and Mary Alice Salinas made Mike talk. Juan Garcia de Oteyza advised me on the book while his wife Sofia encouraged me. My cousins, Enrique Falla, helped me write the Varadero fishing trip while Oscar Echevarria, reminded me of the Cuba we lived. John Payne’s editing made it easier and faster to read, and Pauline Neuwirth is a pleasure to work with as my publisher and designer. The most important credit goes to my wife, Sondra Gilman, who forced me to focus and finish.