title: The Cubans, Our Footprints Across America
author:  Fernando Hernandez 
description: Fernando Fernan Hernandez was born in Banes, Cuba, on October 23, 1952. He and his older brother Luis left the island in 1962 when they were 9 and 11 years old, respectively via Operation Pedro Pan. After staying with a cousin in Miami for about 9 months, they went to live with a maternal aunt and her family in New York City until they were reunited with their parents. The separation from their mother and father lasted nearly four years. The author is a graduate of Power Memorial Academy in Manhattan and St. Thomas University in Miami, Florida where he earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in Communication Arts and Management. He spent many years as a successful pharmaceutical salesman before he decided to pursue education. Fernando (Fernn) is Business Lead Instructor at Everest Institute, a nationally accredited career college. He has also taught at Carlos Albizu Universitys Business Department in Miami. He and his wife Josie have two adult children and make their home in Miami. When not teaching or writing, Fernn and Josie can be found horseback riding, canoeing, skiing or traveling. He is the author of Spanish-language books Potaje (www.alexlib.com/potaje, Lo que aprendi de mi perro (www.alexlib.com/miperro) and The Cubans Our Legacy in the United States (www.amazon.com). His short story, Knutts Cases, about fictional psychiatrist Dr. R.U. Knutts, can be found in www.thewritedeal.org, His work also appears in the anthology Un Horizonte Literario: Poesias, Cuentos y Algo Mas. The author welcomes readers comments and opinions. He can be contacted in either English or Spanish at fernpa@hotmail.com.
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  prologue
  
  
  O yeme, chico, ven acá, what's this, this big story I hear you're doing about
  the Cubans and the Marielitos in Los
  
  
  Angeles? Coño, chico, you know that the Cubans are always
  
  
  the top, brother, nobody smarter or sexier or better looking, you
  
  
  know? Look at what we did here in Miami, it was just a swamp
  
  
  for niggers and dying Jews before we moved in. We turned it
  
  
  into the capital of Latin American enterprise, the center of all
  
  
  the movement of business and peoples who want to be free and
  
  
  shop at Burdines and have a nice condo on the beach, or a house
  
  
  in Coral Gables and drive a late-model car. Qué va, brother, if not for us
  Miami
  
  
  would be nothing, just
  
  
  another sand barrier
  
  
  at the edge of a mangrove full off lying roaches and good for
  
  
  nothings. Everybody should do the sam