Your Why by Carlos M. Cruz

My Family's Story

I had a loving childhood full of so many wonderful things.  I never knew how poor my family was until I got old enough to understand our circumstances.  My Dad was forced to leave his beloved Cuba due to the brutal socialist revolution and emigrate to Spain.  My Mom had the opportunity to fly to Miami to be reunited with her family members who made it out earlier before the dreaded Castro storm.  Whoever believes socialism and communism is the way to go is gravely mistaken.  My parents had the unfortunate pleasure of living under the Castro regime from 1959-1965.  My Dad and his ex-wife divorced due to the ruthless Castro indoctrination which outlawed religion, forbade individual rights, divided families, and confiscated property.  It destroyed the individual's will to dream and achieve.

My Dad's children from his first marriage were taught to hate him as he did not embrace the new order.  His oldest daughter called him a "gusano," which means "worm" in Spanish, as he distanced himself from the growing Castro wave.  Shortly after my parents married in Cuba, my Mom became pregnant and was beat up, mentally abused, and subjected to so much fear she lost the baby who would have been my older brother.  My parents knew it was time to move on for their future children who would have no chance in a Castro Cuba.  Mom was allowed to emigrate to Miami.  My father had to seek refuge in the Spanish embassy and emigrated to Madrid, Spain. My mother had a son with her first husband who adored my parents.  My mother could never have imagined the Castro regime would take him away also.  Mom was assured by her ex-husband, who was a loyal disciple of Castro's army their son would make it to Miami a few days after she was forced to leave.  Of course, her son in Cuba was never sent over by his father. 

After about a year in Spain, my father made it to the states to reunite with my mom.  Most Cuban exiles at the time spent several years in Spain as their paperwork made it through the bureaucracy before obtaining their exit visa.

When I was young, my father told me the story of how he impersonated a diplomat with a borrowed briefcase, went to the American Embassy in Spain and fumbled his way through security and into the embassy.  Inside, he got in line and reached an agent who was impressed by his will to be reunited with his wife in the U.S. as he gained access to the embassy as a disguised diplomat.  My father pleaded with him to check his paperwork and not to have him arrested.  The agent checked his paperwork and told him that all of his documents were in proper order. "Why are you still in Spain?" he asked. 

"Because it takes an average of three years to get in here to see you, but I have a wife over there that needs me." 

The agent stamped his paperwork, and he was on a plane within a week.  My father's inner force guided him to succeed and not get stranded in a foreign abyss.

My father reached the U.S., got a job without speaking any English.  He told my mother he was here to make things work for them in Miami.  A whole new struggle of life in exile began for my parents.  Their spirit would be free to evolve, dream, and take advantage of the opportunities the United States had to offer.

I want to earn, appreciate, and share their struggles.  Their plight enabled me to have an insatiable spiritual force to succeed and to give you the tools to do the same.  This is the "why" which fuels my "how to." Why I do what I do and how to do it better is a daily habit which enables me to achieve my goals.  You have to find your positive spiritual force, or Chiragon. You have one already.  You must identify and develop it as a beacon which guides your daily actions. 

This is an excerpt from contributing Author Carlos M. Cruz's book, "Watching a Policy Maker’s Back as well as Your Own: The Business of Politics" published in January 2021.