Cuban woman escapes to have better life in America
http://www.waff.com/Global/story.asp?S=5227988
Aug 1, 2006 10:51 PM
A native Cuban woman forced into exile...made her home in North Alabama.
During Fidel Castro's reign her loved ones were persecuted... even murdered.
Now she fears that under Raul's reign, communism will still exist.
Margarita de Quesada of Decatur survived communism.
The 79-year old has overcome so much.
At 37, she and her husband escaped from Cuba to the United States...a land of opportunity.
It's a country many of us take for granted, but this one woman owes her life to the red, white, and the blue.
Margarita and her husband Armando were born and raised in Cuba, a country she still loves today.
But when Fidel Castro took over Margarita says things changed.
Armando was part of an underground movement against the dictator.
At one point their property was taken from them, God was no longer allowed to be a part of their lives and as devout Catholics that was really tough.
Margarita even lost her brother to communism.
They planned their escape five years into Castro's reign.
She said, "We wouldn't be alive. I know my husband would be dead and I would probably spend 25 years in prison."
They hid three days in a cargo ship and crossed the Atlantic in five, soon arriving in the United States.
"When I saw the American flag I just started crying because this is a country with freedom for us and a new life, si?"
They became American citizens and had a wonderful life with their family, with rights, freedom, most of all....a voice.
But now with Raul as dictator, she's concerned about the state of her native country.
"It's not going to be better, it's not going to be better. It could be the same or even worse."
Margarita says one of her husband's close friends is Sean Hannity of FOX News, who actually referenced Armando in his show Tuesday.
Although he's been gone for two years now, she cherished the time and life they had here in America.