It Was in the late 1950’s -1961. Fidel Castro had sent his son to live with his sister in Flushing N.Y. during the revolution of Cuba & attended my school P.S 20 in Queens .When the war was over and Batista was ousted from office Fidel was supposed to come to my school, and take home his son home in  dramatic fashion in an elaborate ceremony  at the Tuesday Assembly.

Fidel was busy and sent his brother Raul Castro in his place.

I remember  Raul and his  fatigued wearing comrades marching down the aisle during our assembly…

   Raul presented the principal Mr. Phillips with a giant bust Fidel and Mr. Phillips couldn’t stop showing off and bragging that he was friends with Fidel Castro. Not long after that assembly Fidel started summary executions and reveled that he was  a communist. Mr. Philips hid the Castro bust in the cellar of the school and that was the end of his bragging.

My  Great Great grandfather and his older son had lived down south during the American Civil War and   left as there was not any work after the Civil War during the reconstruction period.They returned to Europe for employment….

Their  return to Europe was short  lived as they were to  forced to flee eastern Europe at the onset of the pogroms.They settled in Cuba as they were not able to immigrate to The U.S.  since they lived in the C.S.A. However my Great Great Grandfathers  youngest son my Great Grandfather in which I’am named after was born in Europe and was  able to secure a visa & immigrate to this country . . My mothers  Mother would travel to Miami  to visit her  Grandfather, uncle and cousins during the 1920’s and 1930’s from Cuba.

Castro confiscated property and  money from the common folk , now we are not talking about Big Sugar or Big Tobacco but the Small Retail owner the Mom & Pop style shops in which I had relatives that  fled Cuba ..

Castro was billed as a guerilla fighter  .well that’s just a fancy more palatable way the press cleaned it up for a terrorist..no different than Hamas….By the way all of my family in Cuba’s money and properties confiscated by the Castro regime without  any reporations.

People were burying their in money in coffee cans thinking that Castro would only  bein power temporarily maybe a Well maybe a month or so… that did not happen and that’s the way it was.