I first heard the fascinating backstory of Alex Soto--who recentlyconcluded his term as president of the Independent Insurance Agentsand Brokers of America--from a DVD he gave me of his "Black BeanSoup" speech about his boyhood in Cuba, his family's escape toFlorida after Fidel Castro seized power, and his longing these past47 years to return home someday on his own terms. His storyresonated with me--the son of a man who as a teenager had fled theNazis in Poland to start a new life in New York. I offered myediting skills to help craft a personal essay out of his speech,which I would still like to see published in the consumer media. Inthe spirit of the season, I present here a slightly shorter versionof his moving story, to remind us to give thanks for the blessingswe enjoy living in a free country.

Alex is president of InSource, an insurance agency in Miami, Fla.,where he lives with his wife, Patty, a nationally recognizedschoolteacher. His essay follows:

Next Year In Havana
BY ALEX SOTO

Fidel Castro changed my life forever on Aug. 11, 1960--the daymy family left Cuba and came to the United States. We stood infront of our home in the suburbs of Havana at about 7:30 in themorning. It was a two-story housenot opulent, but very comfortable,and in a nice neighborhood. We stood there looking at our home,watching my dad lock the front door.

My older brother Orlando was 12 years old. I was 11, and mysister Grace was 7. So Mom and Dad and the three kids took a momentto look back because we were about to leave our home and go to thedocks at Havana Harbor to board a ferry boat to Key West,Florida.

At that point, on that morning, we expected to be out of Cubafor about six months, or one year at the mosta sufficient amount oftime for political conditions in Cuba to be straightened out sothat we could return to our homeland and our home.

Obviously, we were sadly mistaken. Its been more than 47 yearssince I last set foot in Cuba or saw my home.

My Mom and Dad passed away here in the United Statesboth areburied in Miami--but I will tell you I am planning on going back toCuba. It is now a marathon race between Fidel Castro and me. Fidelis 81 and sick, while Im 58. I dont smoke; Im trying to drink withmoderation. My wife, Patty, has put me on a diet. So with a littleluck Ill be able to outlast him and outlive him, and I do plan togo back.

My former life has been very much on my mind of late, given theuncertain health of Fidel Castro, and the even greater uncertaintyabout what will become of Cubaand its relations with the UnitedStatesonce this dictator is inevitably dead and buried.

I do not want you to think I am a bitter or disillusioned man.On the contrary, I love my adopted country, and am proud of thelife I have built here with my family. Today I am a successfulinsurance agent and served as president of the largest associationof my professional peers in the nation. But I can never forget whathappened to my family, or stop longing to return--on my ownterms--to the land of my birth.

On the morning we left Cuba, I had very mixed feelings aboutwhat was about to happen. There was a great deal of excitementbecause we were going to the Great Colossus--the UnitedStates--that we knew so much about. The American culture wasingrained in Cuba. We even had a Cocker Spaniel by the name ofHopalong Cassidy, although we couldnt pronounce his name!

But there was also a great deal of trepidation because we weregoing from a country where we spoke the language to one where wedid not. From where we knew the customs and the habits to one whereeverything was different.

And we were moving from a situation where we were in themajoritymost everyone was like usto one where we were in a distinctminority by language, culture, background, even religion. (Each andevery one of us will profit if at least once or twice in our liveswe are part of a minority, because it teaches you understanding,tolerance and forbearance.)

Cuba is a tropical island, 92 miles south of Key West. If youboard a jet plane in Miami and fly to Havana, youre landing in halfan hourless time than it takes to get from Miami to Orlando. ButCuba is now ever so far for so many of us.

Cuba is about the size of Pennsylvaniaor about three-quartersthe size of my own state of Florida, although with a much moreinteresting topography, featuring real mountains.

Florida has a population of 16 million, while Cuba has 12millionbut in addition to those still on the island, theres anadditional 1.5 million that have left (the Cuban Diaspora)scattered throughout the world, with about one million here in theUnited States (and, of that, probably 900,000 in Mecca--DadeCounty), with a few sprinkled up to Broward County, Fla.

I would submit to you that if we opened the doors in Cuba andanyone could leave, fully half of the population would be gone.

On Jan. 1, 1959, Fidel Castro (who was 32 at the time), hisbrother Raul (27) and Che Guevara (about 30) led a group of about300-to-400 men who overthrew a military dictator by the name ofFulgencio Batista.

Batista had been in power for about seven yearsafter staging hisown coup, overturning a democratically-elected government. We had aconstitution and constitutional guarantees. He set them aside andnamed himself president and ruled for seven years.

So on Jan. 1, 1959, the overwhelming majority of Cubans were infavor of Fidel Castroexcept for those few who were aligned with theBatista regime. Most of us were in support of Castro because hepromised to return Cuba to a democratic process. We were going tobe able to have free elections. Constitutional guarantees weregoing to be re-established.

But as every one of us knows now, that was a very, very cruellie.

By 1961, Castro declared that Cuba was a Marxist, Leninist,Communist, Socialist island. That Cuba was anti-imperialist, andthat anti-imperialism was directly aimed at the United States. (Youmust understand in any consideration of Fidel Castro that he has avisceral dislike and envy for the United States.)

Castro also declared that Cuba was an atheist nationthat therewas no room for God in the new Socialist island. And by anymeasure, by any standard, by any ruler we look at, his reign hasbeen a dismal failure. Whether youre looking at the economy,democratic institutions, individual freedoms, freedom of religion,its been an absolute failure.

The Heritage Foundation every year ranks the economic well-beingof every nation on the planet. In 2003, they ranked Cuba number 155out of 156 nations. Only North Korea had a weaker economy thanCuba.

In 2004, the Heritage Foundation improved the ranking to about144 (mainly because the president of Venezuela--Hugo Chavez, who isa big fan of Castro--is practically giving Cuba free petroleum.They get deep discounts and then do not pay!). In 2006, the rankingdropped back down to 150.

Let me tell you how they dismantled the economy in Cuba.

On May 17, 1959, they passed the Agrarian Reform Law, whichbasically says that any farms or ranches that are bigger than acertain size would be taken away from private ownership and givento the government, redistributed or put under governmental control.So with the stroke of a pen, 85 percent of all the agriculturallands in Cuba passed from private hands to the government and itswhim.

My family on my maternal sideGomezwas in agriculture. (I amactually Alejandro Soto Gomez. In the Spanish tradition we neverforget about Mom. You always carry in your name the last name ofyour father and your mother. So I am Alejandro, the son of Mr. Sotoand Miss Gomez.)

The Gomez family arrived in Cuba in the year 1511--about 119years before the pilgrims got to Plymouth Rock. They settled in theinterior of the island and went into agriculture. Then about 450years later, with the stroke of a pen, on May 17, 1959, we were outof business. We were no longer raising cattle.

The next year, on Oct. 13, 1960, they passed the Urban ReformLaw, which basically took all the means of productionall thefactories, all of the businessesand either confiscated themoutright or put them under the control of the government.

My grandfather, Antonio Soto, on my fathers side of the family,was the son of a Spanish immigrant who was born in 1882, and who,because the family had bad economic conditions, started to work atthe age of 17. He would work during the day and go to school atnight.

One of his first investments was a cart from which he soldvegetables and fruit. And that went very well for him; soon hebought a little piece of land and a business here and there. He wason his way.

By the time he was in his late 70s, in 1959, he was a self-mademan. He was a mortgage lender. He had owned an insurance company,was a hotelier, a financier, had owned a bank, had a roof tilecompany, was a homebuilder, a land developer, a restaurateur and anumber of other things.

Yet with a stroke of a pen, on Oct.13, 1960, it was all takenaway. That same month he boarded a plane to Miami and two yearslater he died having lost everything that he had built and workedfor over an entire lifetime.

Consider a couple of other facts about the Cuban economy. Thefederal budget in Cuba is only $13 billion. Heck, the grossdomestic product of Cuba is $18 billion. The Cuban-Americanbusinesses owned in Miami have a gross domestic product of $26billion.

Do the math: Cubans in Miami--$26 billion; the entire island ofCuba, $18 billion. And it is not because the Cubans in Miami aresmarter or harder workers. Its simply because in the United Statesthere is opportunity. In Cuba, there is none.

The lessons of Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nationsthat peoplewill work harder for themselves and for their families than for thegovernment--is a lesson that most everybody in the worldunderstands. But in Cuba they havent quite gotten it yet.

In 1962, the Castro government did away with a free press. Theyconfiscated 16 newspapers, 18 radio stations and four TV stations.They just shut them down and then created a few newspapers that arepure propaganda. The Granma, their main newspaper, is full of liesabout our government, our nation and our president.

Fortunately, a number of people in Cuba see through that, butits a propaganda mechanism nevertheless.

Cuba operates under the whim of one manFidel Castro. After all,who was left in charge when he came down ill? Was there any dueprocess of law? No. There was his brother, Raul, hand-picked totake over.

About three years ago, I get a call out of nowhere from a mannamed Dr. Emilio Adolfo Riveroa professor of political science andlanguage in the Washington, D.C. areaand he tells me hed like tomeet; hed like for us to get to know each other. And he has a storythat he must share with me.

This was November 2003. Over lunch with Dr. Rivero, he tells methis story that he had been a political prisoner for 18 years inCuba for opposing Fidel Castro. But interestingly enough, he hadfought with Fidel Castro, and very quickly after Castros triumph,he turned, he changed.
I asked him what had caused him to do that, and he said, I realizedwe traded a bad dictator for an awful one, and we made a hugemistake in taking up with Fidel Castro.

The anecdote that he wanted to share with me, most poignantly,was that he was picked up by the secret police in Cuba. When theycaught him, he was taken to some safe houses they had forinterrogation. They kept him upstairs there for a 31-day period;they would drag him downstairs every day and threaten him withexecution unless he gave up everybody that was working withhim.

And one day, when he is in his cell he is looking through thecrack on a little peephole they had established to keep an eye onhim. And there is a guard sitting outside his door looking at aphoto album, and Dr. Rivero surmises that that must be the album ofthe family that had lived there.

And he spots a picture of my grandfather, and he recognizes thepicture of Miguel Mariano Gomez, because my grandfather had thegood fortune of having served as president of Cuba in the 1930s. Sohe correctly assumes that hes in the house of a Gomez.

He was in our home and next door in my aunts home! Yes, our homefor 45 years has been a place of interrogation, intimidation,torture and, in some cases, perhaps even execution. And that isvery heavy on my heart that a home that gave us so much pleasure isnow used in this manner.

In Cuba, God is dead. Theyre now reviving Him a little bit.Theyre allowing some interaction between American churches andCuban churches, but theyre watching it. They want to make sureUncle Sam doesnt misbehave, and if it ever becomes a problem, I canassure you theyll shut it down.

After all, in 1961 they expelled 100 priestsfirst, theforeign-born, and then the natives. For the first three years ofthe revolution they coerced another 460 religious leadersrabbis,ministers, Jesuits, priestsjust to get out of the island. And theybasically said you can practice your religion, but if you do youcannot join the Communist party, and nothing happens in terms ofgetting ahead in Cuba if you are not a member of the Communistparty.

You also might as well forget about going to college. Youre notgoing to be admitted into the University of Havana and you will notbe able to work for the government. So if you want to practice yourreligion, you better be ready to have someone in your family takecare of you and support you.

Pete Cabrera, who was until recently the assistant principal inmy wife, Pattys, school, told me a story that happened to him whenhe was in kindergarten in Cuba that I have heard quite franklyrepeated many times in Miami.

Pete was in class in kindergarten, and the teacher said, Todaywere going to talk about God, the revolution and Fidel. He said,Kids, put your head down and lets pray to God for a piece ofcandy.

They raised their heads and there was no candy on the desk.Kids, put your head down and lets pray to the revolution and toFidel for a piece of candy. And lo and behold, candy appeared onevery desk!

The message was that you see, kids? Fidel and the revolutionwill take care of you. God will not take of you. Pete Cabrera wenthome and told his mother what had happened and she freaked out. Shebegan moving heaven and earth to try to get Pete out of the island.And that was happening in the early 1960s all across Cuba, and gavebirth to an operation that was called Operation Peter Pan.

Operation Peter Pan lasted only two years, but some 14,000 Cubankids were smuggled off the island with the help of three groupsonebeing the United States State Department, which started issuingvisa waivers shipped into Cuba in the hundreds.

Number two were a group of Cubans who got the visas andclandestinely distributed them. That group of Cubans paid dearly,because once the operation was discovered in 1962, they went tojail for a long, long time.

The third group was the Catholic Church in Miami. MonsignorBryan Walsh would go every day to the airport with a group ofpeople waiting for the plane from Cuba, just watching to see ifthere were any children that were unaccompanied that the Churchneeded to take. And in those two years, 14,000 kids got out--7,000went to U.S. relatives, but another 7,000 were put in foster homes,orphanages and other institutions in 35 states.

Elsa Pergolathe law firm administrator of one my clientstells methat she was nine years old and her brother was five when theyreceived visa waivers. Her parents took them to the airport threedays in a row looking for somebody who had a kind face to turn themover to.

On the third day they found two middle-aged women, and theyturned the kids over to them. Elsa said, I rode in the lap of oneand my five-year-old brother sat in the lap of the other lady. AndElsa is one of the fortunate ones, because she had an aunt who waswaiting at the airport to pick her up.

But thousands of kids came with nobody here waiting for themexcept the Catholic Church. Pause a second as a parent orgrandparent and think about how desperate you have to be to turnyour kids over to strangers, not knowing whenor even if--you wouldsee them again.

Some of those kids were reunited with their Cuban familieswithin six months, within a year, within two years, but othersnever saw their parents again. Their parents died in Cuba. Theywere in prison.

The last kids from the Peter Pan operation got out of aninstitution in the United States in 1976, so they were without aregular home or family for 14 years.

Cuba operates under total control. Everybody is encouraged tokeep an eye on everybody else. One of the ways they do it is to setup committees for the defense of the revolution, organized all theway down to the block level. There is a captain and there is alieutenant, whose job it is to know the business of everyone on ourblock.

They want to know where you work, what your politicalinclinations are, where you drink, what your vices are. Andwhenever anyone arrives in the neighborhood that doesnt belong,they make it their business to find out who they are.

When the busses arrive to pick up people to go to the plaza tolisten to Fidel Castro, they make sure you get on the bus. And theykeep tabs, because if you dont cooperate, you lose out if you wantto improve your job or get a better apartment because nothing isbought and sold in the free market, it is provided by thegovernment to you.

If youve been a good Communist, if youve been a good partymember, then they will let you have the apartment. Otherwise, theywill not.

Let me share a story about what total control can do topeople.

In the middle 1980s, Patty and I had a young man hanging somecurtains in our house, and by the language pattern, I realized thiswas a young man who arrived from Cuba not too long before.

Its typical of us Cuban-Americans to kind of get grounded witheach otherwhats your story and whats my story, and how did you comeover. He told me he was a member of the Pioneers, which is theCommunist youth movement in Cuba, and was on his way to join theCommunist party. He said he loved the Cuban revolution. In fact, hesaid, his father was in prison, and he would go argue against hisDad, and say, Dad, the revolution is for all Cubans! Youve got tochange!

But interestingly enough, as he got a little olderwhen he becamea teenagerit was he who started to change his thinking about Cuba,but he had no one he trusted with his new feelings.

So he would go to the woods and he would argue against himself.He would take one side and then the other. Just have an argument.But he would not tell anyone that he was changing.

Right around the same time, he had a girlfrienda young lady hewas madly in love with, and eventually they became engaged. Hewould go over to her house, led by her fathera colonel in the Army.There were pictures of Fidel and Raul Castro on the walls, and theywould all talk about how great the Revolution was, and all that,and he would just keep his mouth shut.

One day, hes about 18 and he gets word that hes being sent toMoscow to study for two-to-four years. He doesnt want to go, butdoesnt know how to get out of it, so to the airport they go. Hisfianc is crying. Her family is there; his family is there.Everybodys crying. He promises hes going to come backthat theyregong to get marriedeven though he doesnt even know how long hesgoing to be away.

The plane takes off, but stops in Madrid to refuel. He sneaksoff the plane and hides for about three-and-a-half hours. Theyrelooking for him, but to no avail, and they cant wait anylonger.

The plane takes off and goes on to Moscow, and now hes inMadrid. He asks for political asylum, and its granted. Within sevenmonths, hes in MeccaMiami--like the rest of us Cuban exiles.

So now he starts putting his life together, learns English andenrolls in Miami Dade Community College. One day he comes out ofclass and makes a turn down the hallway, and as he makes the oneturn, who does he run into but his fiance. He and this girl havenot spoken a word, written a letter or had any communication inover a year.

And they are stunned. They are seeing each other for the firsttime since he left Cuba. So they stumble over to a concrete benchand have a quiet conversation. And she goes, What happened to you?You went to Moscow. You were going to study. Then you were going tocome back and we were going to get married.

And he says, I couldnt take it any more. I literally had toescape. I had to get awayBut what about you? Your father was acolonel in the military. Every time I came over to your house,there would be Fidel to the right and Fidel to the left, and Rauland this and that.

And she goes, Oh, we never believed that, either, but wepretended because of you. We pretended because of you.

If you stop there a second and you think about it, heres a youngcouple who were madly in love, engaged to get married, who even inpillow talk do not feel confident enough, safe enough to say to theother, You know sweetheart, I dont believe this. Im sorry, but I donot believe this. In effect the Revolution was in bed with them,acting like a bundling board and keeping them apart.

I asked him whether they repaired the relationship, and he said,No. Unfortunately, we realized that we had lived a lie to eachother, and too much had happened to each of our lives separatelyfor us to get back together again. So, we hugged and we kissed andwe wished each other well and she went her way and I went mine.

That is a very sad tale, but it underscores the impact ofgovernment control, which is what happens in Cuba to a greatextent.

Let me close by making some comments about the American embargoand the future of Cuba. I believe that the embargo should stay ifthat helps brings change to Cuba, and we should do away with theembargo if that helps expedite bringing change to Cuba.

It reminds of a letter I read by Abraham Lincoln to HoraceGreeley, publisher of the New York Tribune. Mr. Greeley was anabolitionist, and this was during the dark days of the CivilWar.
President Lincoln wrote to Mr. Greeley: My interest in thisstruggle is the preservation of the United States. It is thepreservation of this country. And you should understand that I willfree all the slaves if that helps preserve the nation. Or I willkeep all the slaves in bondage if that accomplishes that. Or I willfree some of the slaves and keep some in bondagewhich is preciselywhat he did, by the wayif thats what helps the cause.

So thats the way I feel about the embargo of Cubawhatever worksto expedite change is what I am for--but my analysis is this: Idont think we should be trading with Cuba for the reasons Imentioned a moment ago. I dont think we ought to be going astourists and leaving money in Cuba and I, for one, will not untilthere is change.

Raul Castro, the brother of Fidel and head of the Army, declaredthat now the tourist industry is under total control of the Army.Its been moving in this direction since 2004, and now the touristindustry joins the sugar, construction and import-export industriesas being all under military control.

Youve got to ask yourself, why would the Army be interested inrunning tourism?
There are two reasons. One is control; you want to keep an eye onthe American and European tourists. You want to take them to theresorts where Cubans are not allowed to goto the restaurants andhotels where native Cubans, even if they were allowed to go,couldnt afford to be there anyway.

The second reason is money. If they get the tourist revenues,that will strengthen the military, the militia and the committeesfor the defense of the Revolution.

Change will come, I am sure of that, though whether in themoderate form of the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, or likein Romania--with the Ceausescus being alive one day, and the nextday their bodies dragged through the streets--I dont know.

But I suspect change will start coming when Fidel Castro dies inhis bed of old age. And when he does, the Cuban people there willhopefully say, Enough. Enough suffering. Enough of this. And thereis no one else to take up the mantle with the charisma of a FidelCastro.

When that occurs, the fondest hope in my heart is that Patty andI will have a home in Cuba.

Will I turn my back on the United States? Of course not. I am anAmerican. I have been here for 46 years. I love this country withevery fiber in my body. My kids are 50 percent Cuban but 100percent American.

But I can see us having a second home, not unlike those of youthat have beach houses, or places in the mountains. Remember, itsonly 30 minutes from Miami to Havana. And so I truly, truly lookforward to the day each of you can come and visit us in Cuba. Afree Cuba.