MIAMI—It has been more than 65 years since Fidel Castro’s regime pushed Dionel and Marina Cotanda to leave their beloved Cuba for the United States.
Unmarried and with only $65 between them—because the communists stole the rest of their money—they found exile in Tampa, Florida.
“They thought this was temporary,” their daughter, Lourdes Cotanda-Ercia, told The Epoch Times.
As the pall of communism settled over their homeland, however, they made America their home, going on to a successful marriage, military service, academic degrees, business successes, outspoken community leadership, three daughters, and several grandchildren.
As interest in communism grows among young Americans, the Cotandas, like other Cuban immigrants, welcome Florida’s decision to create the first school curriculum that teaches the dark history of the ideology they know all too well….