You never imagine that you will have to make a life-threatening decision at 60 years old, but that’s exactly what happened to Rogelio Gonzalez.
In 2023 he chose to flee Cuba with his daughter, Isabella, 23, and travel through Central America until they reached the United States. The perilous journey was fueled by the hope that his daughter would get a chance to study and begin a different life, different from the one he had endured on the island. He said goodbye to his wife and took off with his daughter to America.
Many immigrants face similar issues today. They want to leave their country in search of something better. That’s what made the United States one of the greatest countries in the world. They would accept anyone and give them an opportunity other countries wouldn’t, however those days are over. Trump’s new immigration policy causes many to believe that immigrants can’t be trusted and just take advantage of America’s kindness. Rogelio is an example of a father wanting an opportunity for himself and his daughter.
Isabella is a young college student that wants something more. She worked hard and attended a prestigious university. Until one day she didn’t see a future for herself in Cuba. All her life it was a struggle to survive and find food. Her father wanted to take her away from that in hopes of giving her a chance to be something in life.
“My father risked everything for us to have a better life and seeing how this country has responded to immigration is sad,” she said.. “All he wants to do is work hard and help people but instead we have to worry about once again being separated from our families.”
Rogelio Gonzalez was born in Havana in 1963. He is the middle brother of three, each less than a year apart. At that time, the Cuban Revolution had ended and it seemed like life would change for the better, but that wasn’t the case. The island turned into a dictatorship, and it was a struggle to survive.
“My father struggled to make ends meet as we lived in a small apartment with 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom and very little food,” he said.
At age 7, he moved with his family to Cienfuegos where his mother had lived most of her life. His father was hired by the government. He worked long hours into the night and left often for work trips, leaving the burden of raising their children to his mother.
When he was 13, all three brothers – Rogelio, Marcos, and Francisco – were sent off to boarding school where they would wake up early in the morning to work in the fields picking crops such as oranges and strawberries. Around noon it was time for lunch and then afternoon classes till 8 p.m. He was told that this would help him grow into a man, and he was doing a service to his country.
He stated, “Later on in life I realized they were just exploiting us and masking it as hard work.”
He did that routine for six years. No one was allowed to visit and he could only leave to see his family every 2 weeks. He could only rely on his brothers for help.
“It was tough because we only had each other and no one else, ” he stated. “We were under the idea that this was for our future and everything we were being put through would help us later on in life.”
After graduation Gonzalez joined the military. It was there, he says, that he realized the truth about his country. He knew that it wasn’t for him. He worked various jobs until he decided to go to university and study civil engineering.
But something happened around that time in Cuba. The Soviet Union, which had provided economical support to the island for years, collapsed and workers were laid off. Blackouts would last 20 hours a day leaving people with a few hours to cook food and wash their clothes.
Rogelio lost his job and had to figure out how to provide for his family and wife who was expecting their first born. He teamed up with his brother and they traveled to different towns and trade merchandise. However this came with risk. If the police had stopped them with contraband, they would be arrested.
By this time his oldest son had nearly grown up and his second child was starting high school. He knew that if they wanted to enjoy a better life than he did growing up it would be outside of Cuba. Eventually both his sons made their way to the United States leaving him behind.
His younger brother had moved here with his wife and son. He tried family reunification programs but nothing worked, and it seemed leaving the country was nothing but a fantasy.
Then one day his daughter Isabella changed their lives with one conversation. She told him that she wanted to finish her school in the U.S. She couldn’t handle it anymore in Cuba.
“I don’t think I’ll have a future here and I want to start a life over there were the words my daughter said and I knew what I had to do”.
He knew he needed to make a decision for his daughter’s future and decided to sell his house to finance his trip. They both flew to Nicaragua and started their journey. They didn’t know when it would end or what they would encounter but they knew they had to keep going.
The only person left in Cuba that knew of his journey was his wife. While extremely sad about him leaving she knew what he had to do. His brother and mother were kept in the dark about the whole situation until he landed in Central America. Neither would support his decision and it would be better off to keep them in the dark. When they found out they were furious but had to accept he was gone.
A guide helped them through the whole way. Each night they had to wonder if it was their last. If stopped by the local police, they could be arrested and never seen from again. Both only came with money and the close on their backs.
Every night it was a struggle to find food and shelter. When they were sleeping gunshots could be heard throughout the night. Sometimes days would pass and they wouldn’t eat anything. Oftentimes police would stop to question them and even took away members of the group they were traveling with.
Sometimes roads were blocked and they were forced to turn another way to avoid police. Most of the day consisted of 12 hour long bus rides. There wasn’t enough room for everyone and some were forced to stand the whole way. It ended up taking them a month to get to Mexico.
Once they reached Mexico they had a decision to make: delay their trip and travel by land or take a boat ride up the coast, and get to the border a week earlier than expected. They chose the boat ride, a decision that nearly cost them their lives.
Rogelio and Isabella had been traveling with a group of ten. All of them and the guide had to fit on a small motorboat with a tarp over their heads to hide them in the middle of the night. The current ended up being too strong and the boat capsized with everyone trapped under the tarp. Luckily they were able to remove it and get the boat upright to continue.
After two months of travel through Central America, they finally reached the border between Mexico and the U.S. One last test remained for them to get to their destination. They crossed a river in freezing cold temperature at 4 a.m. The water level had risen to their shoulders. One wrong step and the current could have taken them.
“Crossing that river was both the happiest and worst moment of my life,” said Rogelio. “I didn’t know if I would survive, but I knew I would do whatever it took to make it across.”
Eventually they made it across and onto U.S soil near Texas, where they were detained and later released to family members in the U.S. They’re journey was complete and a new chapter was about to begin.
It’s been a couple years since Rogelio Gonzalez made his trip. He has adapted to life in the United States and become a maintenance man near Naples, FL. But seeing how the United States has handled immigration the past few months has startled him.
Growing up he had heard about all the support this country provided to immigrants and now it seems to be gone. Thousands of other immigrants live in fear everyday of what might happen to them.
Rogelio wasn’t able to vote in the previous election but was shocked to see how much support Cubans gave to Trump. Trump was the reason he didn’t go to the United States sooner. He was only missing the last interview for the Family reunification process before Trump was elected President in 2016 and suspended the whole program.
The U.S. government’s rescinding of the wet -foot-dry-foot policy, which allowed Cubans who made it to the United States to stay, didn’t help Rogelio’s case when he came here. It used to be easier for Cubans to immigrate to America because of it. However, when that law was undone a trend began and Rogelio believes it’s gone downhill from there. How can new immigrants not worry if people that have lived for years are at risk of being deported.
“This country has opened their doors to many people fleeing their country and was the place everyone wanted to go to,” said Gonzalez. “But it doesn’t feel that way anymore. It’s scary knowing that any second you could be taken away and separated from your family without warning.”
Gonzalez had dreamt his whole life about immigrating to the U.S. Now the country he loves has been kicking his people out.
“I agree with deporting people who come here to cause problems,” stated Gonzalez. “They shouldn’t be allowed to be here, but the government is taking it too far by deporting people that have been here for years and worked hard for their way of life.
Rogelio and Isabella Gonzalez have made a life for themselves. He is a maintenance man at the building where he lives and she is studying marketing in hopes of working for a major company. Both are doing their best to push ahead and be successful but have to do so with the fear that at any moment that life could be taken away.
