WEBVTT

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Hi and welcome back to Tell Me What Happened,

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the podcast that features real people talking

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about real issues that they confronted in their

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childhoods. I'm your host, Jay Reheck, and like

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you, I've suffered some trauma in my childhood,

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but I'd like to think that everything that I

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experienced has helped to make me who I am today,

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and hopefully a little bit more empathetic than

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I otherwise would be. Tell Me What Happened is

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sponsored by Sideline Ink Publishing. publishers

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of quality books including Susan Salador's I've

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Got Peace in My Fingers available worldwide or

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wherever quality books are sold. Today I have

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as my guest a good friend of mine, a man who

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emigrated from Cuba at a very young age, my good

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friend Orlando Piedra. Orlando, go ahead and

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tell us your story. The story starts in Cuba.

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I was born in Cuba. I came to the United States

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in 1961. Things were different at that time landing

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in Miami than they are right now. My goodness,

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that was so long ago, almost 60 years ago. However,

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I came here when I was 10 years old. We landed

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in Miami in January of 1961. Fidel Castro came

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up to power on January the 1st, 1959. To a nine

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-year -old, ten -year -old, it wasn't a big deal

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until my parents came to me and said, take some

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things, take some clothes and put them in a bag

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so that we can go on this trip together. I had

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no idea. I was living comfortably, playing, doing

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the normal things that a ten -year -old would

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do. And all of the sudden, we are at an airport

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and we are taking an airplane to Miami. I didn't

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know how long we were going to stay there. We

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ended up staying forever. We left everything

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that I had known to be part of my world behind

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the house that we lived in, the school that I

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went to, the things that I had, the toys that

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I had. My father's automobile was a 1963 or 1962

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Mercedes petroleum. It was one of the first there.

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However, they took it away from him. He got He,

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my dad, got arrested because he happens to have,

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or he happened to have had, the same first and

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last name, not the middle name, first and last

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name, of a well -known enforcer for the Batista

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regime, who was the regime that Castro was fighting

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against. And bodies would literally turn up in

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the streets of the city, dropped off at night.

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clandestinely and someone his name was Orlando

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Rafael Piedra Negeruela someone with my dad's

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first and second name was the person that was

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doing a lot of this killing in any event my dad

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got pinched he got arrested he figured this is

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going on we just he decided to leave Because

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he didn't see any future in having the same last

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name as someone that is well known for having

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killed people in the Castro regime. If you see

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what I mean. My mom, my mom was a school principal.

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She wasn't allowed to go out of the country after

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Castro came up. He came up in 59. And two years

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later, they weren't giving papers out to people

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that were as educated as my mom was, even though

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she didn't speak English. But she, I guess that's

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why I went into the business. Going back to my

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dad, once they took that car, once they took

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that, he knew we had people at the house that

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were strangers to me. And then in time, I found

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out that... the guys with the gray suits and

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the skinny lapel and the skinny black ties carrying

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guns that were coming into the house. They were

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just there to talk to my parents. But then I

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found out what they were there for, scoping out

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my dad. So my parents decided to leave. They

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told me to pack some things. We end up in Hialeah,

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Florida for about a month. My dad's not making

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any money, but we come to Chicago pretty cold

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60 62 was cold and my dad gets a job Doing something

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with cars, I don't know but he used to come home

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filthy. He was a businessman He wore suits and

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now he's coming home with this stuff in his face

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So after about a month of this trauma in in Hialeah,

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Florida the most inhabited Cuban population now

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in the United States, we had an opportunity to

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come to Chicago. To make a long story short,

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finally, we ended up in Chicago in 1962, off

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of the airplane, cold weather. My mom and dad

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did not speak English. I had to translate for

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everything we did. After we were able to stay

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with this family for a couple of weeks, we had

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to rent a house, not rent a house, but an apartment

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at the time. And I had to do the leasing, translating,

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and the grocery. It was part of the new thing

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because when I was back in Cuba, my parents didn't

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need me for that kind of thing. They were doing

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their careers, but now the dynamics of the family

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really change. I guess it was to my benefit because

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we became dependent on one another. My mom, working

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in a school, handling four or five hundred kids,

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whatever it was at the time, and now she's here

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not being able to speak English and went to work

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at a watch factory, a Seiko watch factory. I

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remember she was able to get me some nice Christmas

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presents once she was working there. She worked

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her entire life, her life here. while she was

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in Chicago. Anyway, my dad. My dad had the same

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last name as this killer for the Batista regime.

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My dad was arrested a couple of times. We had

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people in the house that were, I guess, police

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at the time. I didn't know who they were. Eleven

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years old, I didn't know who in the world they

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were. Coming into the house, my parents, oh,

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they're just here to talk to your dad, this and

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that. Guess my dad didn't see any future staying

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in Cuba. So we left thinking eventually when

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Castro is Dethrone We'll be able to go back with

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that. Hope has been like almost 60 years I wish

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I could go back but things in our in our current

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political theme have changed in any event What

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else can I tell you about this story The thing

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that this story has taught me is that as an 11

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year old I Felt like I had everything that I

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would ever need I had no cares similar to my

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son who has Autism no care at all for anything

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No idea what was happening around me all of a

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sudden pack a bag month later You're in Chicago,

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and it doesn't look like you're going back so

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my parents always taught me that Education was

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the way out. I shared this with my daughter.

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I wish I could with my son, but he doesn't understand.

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He will not understand that because of his developmental

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disability. But the one thing that we had was

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comfort in Cuba. We had money. We had a nice

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house, not a small house, not an estate. but

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a very comfortable life with people caring for

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us and I went to a private place with where you

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have to wear your little tie and and I would

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stay at the school for nine months out of the

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year come home for the holidays my parents had

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to pay for that I guess now one way or another

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at the time but what I learned is that all that

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stuff in from one day to the other was gone we

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were living in a place that had Roaches, which

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is a new bug that I was introduced to. We don't

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have those kinds of things in Cuba. Other kinds

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of bugs, but not those. Without money, without

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clothing, without family, we were here. And the

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one thing they taught me is that the only way

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you can get through, luckily I spoke English,

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the only way you can get through was if you...

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get educated. And it wasn't easy for me. We didn't

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have Google in 1962. We didn't have Google in

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1972 or 76 when I finally graduated from college.

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I was able to make it because they put into their

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minds, into my mind, that the school, the education

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was a thing that was going to pull me out and

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think that they could not take away. So, to make

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a long story short, what I've learned is that

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young person and I carry and I try to teach my

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daughter the same is that material things like

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money homes clothing material things can be taken

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away from you easily from one day to the next

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but what they cannot take away from you is your

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education what you learned in school what you

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learned in life what something I learned from

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a band, a rock band by the name of Pink Floyd.

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But they have a line on an album that's called

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Dark Side of the Moon. I think it's still the

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top bestseller in the world. But the line reads,

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all that you touch and all that you see is all

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your life will ever be. And I am very, very grateful

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to have been able to follow that thinking and

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that philosophy. Well, thank you Orlando for

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those insights. I can't imagine how difficult

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it must be to emigrate to another country, especially

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as a young person. Well, that's our show. I want

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to thank everyone for listening, and I also want

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to invite anyone who'd like to participate to

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text me at 312 -343 -6273 and tell me their story.

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Because we all have them, we've all endured them,

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and we can all learn from them. Now we're going

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to end the show as we always do, with Susan Salador's

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classic Boo Boo Blues. I'm Jay Rehack. And until

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next time, as always, stay safe out there and

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try not to hurt anybody. fix it for