Cuban family's struggle for freedom is a long story of love

Chris urso/staff

By JOSÉ PATIÑO GIRONA | The Tampa Tribune
TAMPA --These days the family meets most evenings at Arco Iris, a popular Cuban restaurant on Columbus Drive.

Gustavo Gonzalez usually arrives at the restaurant about 9:30 p.m. with daughters Patricia, 19, and Lauren, 17. His wife, Ania Morales, works behind the counter at Arco Iris.

She's responsible for cleaning the restaurant at closing time. Gonzalez and their daughters are there every night to help.

It isn't a burden. It's family time.

Nearly 15 months ago, the family reunited after more than four years apart after Gustavo Gonzalez fled Cuba on Oct. 23, 2006.

Gonzalez tried to leave the country illegally three times, only to be caught at sea each time and repatriated to the island nation. He served a short time in prison. He lost his job as a trucker.

Neighborhood block captains kept an eye on his whereabouts. His nerves were on edge. He lost weight.

For his fourth attempt to leave, Gonzalez and several others secretly built a motorized boat.

On his youngest daughter's 12th birthday, the others made contact and told him it was time to leave. Although he didn't say where he was headed, his daughters sensed he was leaving.

The decision wasn't easy.

He was afraid he might not survive the voyage. And if he did, there was no guarantee he would get permission from both countries to eventually claim his daughters and wife.

"We made the decision, and she always supported me," said Gonzalez, 52. "Even though she had her fears, she supported me because she knew my life there was pretty troubled. My life there wasn't a life."

Gonzalez and the others left Cuba and headed west to Mexico. They survived the voyage and traveled by land for 20 days before they crossed the border into the United States. Under the "wet foot, dry foot" policy, most Cubans who reach U.S. soil are allowed to stay.

Gonzalez eventually made his way to Tampa because he has siblings who live in the area.

Like many Cubans before him, he had made the journey safely but at a high price. He was here but had to leave a family behind.

Cubans immigrating alone to the United States and leaving their families behind isn't new, experts said. In the 1960s, many parents sent their kids to the United States under a program called Operation Pedro Pan to avoid Marxist indoctrination.

Today, the United States allots only 20,000 visas to Cubans each year. There is a huge demand, said Harry Vanden, a University of South Florida professor of government and international affairs.

"There are a lot of people who come to the U.S. to seek a better life for various reasons — economic, social, political," Vanden said. Those who leave Cuba illegally as Gonzalez did often leave relatives behind because they don't want to put their families through the dangerous journey, he said.

Once Gonzalez arrived in Tampa, his mission was to reunite with his wife and girls.

Jorge Gonzalez owns Arco Iris and hired his brother, who did kitchen preparation work in the morning and bused tables later in the day.

His days were filled working, but he missed his family. He could afford to call only once a week, though he saved enough to regularly send them money.

A homebody and family man, he was lonely. He slept at night with the television on to not feel alone. He remembered his family, the family dog and even his enemies on the island who saw him as a dissident. He worried about his daughters, who were growing up.

"I didn't care about anything," Gonzalez said. "I didn't care about going to a mall, buying clothes or even going someplace to have a good time."

On a day off, he'd spend it paying bills, doing laundry, visiting friends and inquiring and presenting immigration paperwork to claim his family.

In Cuba, Morales tried to remain positive and hopeful. She would break down and cry without letting her daughters see her. His weekly calls eased her worries.

Morales worried that her daughters might fall in love and rebel against leaving once they received their visas to emigrate.

His daughters tried to adjust to life without their father.

"It was always difficult not having my father near, who we always had around," Patricia Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez never gave up on the effort to bring his family to the United States, though the cost and paperwork were difficult. He'd eventually spend nearly $10,000 on immigration documents and flights to reunite the family.

Finally, his persistence paid off. On July 29, 2011, Morales and their daughters arrived in Miami. More >>