Freedom House

La casa de la libertad:

Photo via El Nuevo Herald

One of the things I mentioned to President Bush and my blogging colleagues at last week's meeting was that, while I and the gentlemen and woman sitting at that meeting come from countries where despotism rules and human rights are systematically violated and where oppression is the order of the day, I, personally, was different. "Unlike my blogging colleagues here, Mr. President" I said. "I was fortunate enough to have lived, and been raised in freedom."

My father, just a year or two younger than I am now brought this crying baby boy, his sobbing sister and their worried and terrified mother to ths country so that we would know true liberty. Not an easy thing, for a man with a family, midway through his life to uproot that family and leave the only country and people he'd ever known, and take that family to a country where everything is different. The mores, the culture, the language. To settle in a new country without any friends or family, with nothing but the proverbial shirts on their backs. I dont think I would have the strength, determination or perseverance to do the same.

The picture above is of The Freedom House - La Casa de la Libertad - in Miami International Airport, circa 1968. It was the first stop for thousands of Cuban exiles who sought liberty in the United States of America.

I find it somewhat odd that, in my mind, I've always found it hard to remember or imagine what La Casa de la Libertad - my family's gateway to freedom - looked like, until I saw the photo above and the others in this El Nuevo Herald photogallery and its accompanying articles.

The photo above also brought back a couple other long forgotten memories: big, yelow bricks of government cheese, vacunas and my very first toy in the land of freedom: a Superman Pez dispenser, with candy.

Posted by Val Prieto at December 17, 2008 07:26 AM

Comments

Posted by: j2tharome at December 17, 2008 11:50 AM

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at December 19, 2008 01:46 PM