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Mort Segal and his sister, Joan Feldman, remember their father, Jack Segal, a booking agent for novelty acts in the Catskills.
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Related Pieces
Piece Description
In 1963, Dr. Gustavo Mestas <goo-STAH-voe MESS-tuss> and his family escaped from Cuba and Fidel Castro's communist regime. His daughter, Ileana <ill-ee-ON-uh> Smith, was 10 at the time. When she asked him about their move recently, Mestas responded with a laugh. "That is a very complex problem," he said. The answer involves an initial moment of joy at Castro's victory -- and the realization, Mestas said, that with the way things were going, "this is not good for my children."
Broadcast History
NPR's Morning Edition 8/15/08
Transcript
IS: Papi, tell me how you came to the decision to escape from Cuba.
GM: That is a very complex problem, ok. When Fidel started this revolution, even the churches were ringing the bells. Everybody was so happy, but after a while you saw it was not so good. You said, Jesus, this is not good for my children. So one day my friend that used to have a boat told me that he wanted to leave. And I said I wanted to leave, too.
IS: I remember I was looking out the port hole. I saw the Russian coast guard with the big guns.
GM: Yea. We saw the search light of the patrol boat. And my friend he stopped the motor, he stopped everything. He said, "Quiet everything. No one talk. No nothing." Because the patrol boat is the one that was killing people.
The next day, we reached the coast of Florida close to noontime. It was tough. I didn't know if I was going to be able to practice as a doctor here...
Read the full transcript
Intro and Outro
INTRO:"[STORYCORPS MUSIC]
Time now for StoryCorps.
Friends and family have been interviewing each other for this project.
Like Ileana [ill-ee-ON-uh] Smith and her father, Gustavo Mestas
[goo-STAH-voe MESS-tuss] .
She was ten years old when their family fled Cuba.
HE was a doctor there.
At StoryCorps they talked about coming to the U-S ...
... a journey that happened forty-five years ago this month.
[TAPE]
[STORYCORPS MUSIC]
Gustavo Mestas [goo-STAH-voe MESS-tuss] with his daughter, Ileana
- Hide quoted text -
[ill-ee-ON-uh] Smith, at StoryCorps in Delaware.
Their conversation will be archived at the Library of Congress along
with ALL StoryCorps interviews.
Subscribe to the project's podcast, at NPR-dot-ORG.
[STORYCORPS FUNDER -- On ME Shelf]
[STORYCORPS MUSIC]
Time now for StoryCorps.
Friends and family have been interviewing each other for this project.
Like Ileana [ill-ee-ON-uh] Smith and her father, Gustavo Mestas
[goo-STAH-voe MESS-tuss] .
She was ten years old when their family fled Cuba.
HE was a doctor there.
At StoryCorps they talked about coming to the U-S ...
... a journey that happened forty-five years ago this month.
[TAPE]
This is NPR News.
"
[STORYCORPS MUSIC]
Gustavo Mestas [goo-STAH-voe MESS-tuss] with his daughter, Ileana [ill-ee-ON-uh] Smith, at StoryCorps in Delaware.
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