In “Your Story” we celebrate the remarkable stories of everyday Americans from diverse backgrounds — in their own words — helping us to unite communities around a sense of pride in America and what makes America flourish.
Riquet Caballero is a native of Cuba whose family escaped the grip of crushing poverty. Today he shares his story to warn others of the horrors of big government policies.
“I was born in Cuba, so whenever I see freedom curtailed in any way, that’s a problem.
We used to play outside. I tell people that if you remember “A Bronx Tale,” you see the kids growing up in the 50s or the 60s and playing with bicycle rims, hopscotch, playing baseball, ball caps, that type of thing.
In Cuba, I didn’t have a lot, nobody had a lot.
And ever since I’ve been in this country, I’ve been so grateful for the freedoms we are afforded and I try to educate my fellow Latin American immigrants on just how good we’ve got it.
My grandparents always bad-mouthed the government because they were alive and working when the revolution happened in 1959.
In my house, we were not a ‘revolutionary’ house. We criticized the government a lot, not outside publicly, but inside the household.
I remember when my father came to the United States in 1994, was 7, and then in 1996, the Atlanta Olympics happened, he sent me a basketball jersey that said USA on it.
In school I was always whispering to my fellow students, contradicting what the teacher would say about the glory or the benefits of the revolution.
The revolution guarantees that every child has food on the table. I would say, ‘Yeah, but how come they took away my milk when I was six years old?’
In Cuba, everything is rationed. Every house has an allotted amount of groceries that they can get every month.
At some point they stop giving children milk, so if you’re a parent, or you need your child to drink it, you’d have to buy it illegally somewhere on the street.
Starvation, people eating cats, dogs, leather boots, cleaning mops, you name it. And during that time my father said I can’t do this anymore, ‘I have a child, a young child, and we’re getting out of here.’
And so he got a group of men and they made it to Canada and then America. They were able to then claim refugee status, and three years later he brought mom and me.
And ever since I’ve been in this country, I’ve been so grateful for the freedoms we are afforded and I try to educate my fellow Latin American immigrants on just how good we’ve got it.”
