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About the Author

Iris Optaciana was born in 1955 in Havana, Cuba. Shortly after Castro’s assumption of power, the author and his family became political targets of a communist uncle recently arrived from Spain, who as a hard-line “Fidelista,” used the local Committee for Defense of the Revolution to harass them and then block their attempts to leave the island. In desperation, the author’s mother opted for having her son smuggled out with the help of the Catholic Church. Ultimately, the author and five of his cousins were spirited out and dispersed, as part of a clandestine operation that eventually brought 14,000 children to America.