Carlos De la Cruz

“Almost every dictator is able to offer in his speeches plans and solutions which differ to such a degree that they often almost contradict themselves, all that during a single speech. They know how to do that very well indeed. If one would listen to such a speech, he would get almost no idea what the politician was talking about. In other words, one could find exactly what he would like to hear in it. And if someone is already in opposition, he would hear only what he wants to hear as well, as he would like to hear just the bad things. That has been an attribute of all dictators.”

“After I saw what happened to people who left Cuba via the Mariel port... It all happened under circumstances which handn´t been favourable both for the United States and the Cuban diaspora in Miami, and the people who were coming had to deal with prejudice they didn´t earn at all. The only one who would benefit was the Cuban regime. And I told myself that I would try to change that. So I spoke with Senator Graham... Back then I was at the United Way board so I spoke with the United Way director and I suggested that the organisation could engage in helping Cubans waiting in Guantanamo. I also spoke to the people from Cuban and US radio stations. As back then, I had been a car dealer and also a Budweiser beer distributor so I was maybe one of the largest advertisers as far as radios were concerned. So I went there and asked them not to report on Cubans at Guantanamo as if they would do so the whole thing would get politicized, me being a man who prefers to settle complicated issues in peace and without unnecessary attention. I am not saying that I managed to do that on my own, but together, we succeeded. Back then, David Laurens was an editor-in-chief at the El Miami Herald and he was also a board member at the United Way. He has been a friend of mine and we were working together. And there wasn´t much talk about the people who were waiting in Guantanamo which enabled for them to be transferred to the United States peacefully. It wasn´ t perceived either as a victory nor as a defeat. They were being looked at as this group of people who wanted to come to live here peacefully and they were enabled to do so. We would help them to find housing, to get a driver's license and so on...”