“When we arrived, I remember they welcomed us at the airport, and they took us to the Freedom Tower. Back then, it was called El Refugio. They put us in a room like this, like a conference room, and then they will call by families. And they welcomed us with a little box that had a small ham and cheese sandwich, an apple, what I believe was like a biscotti or some kind of cookie, and the most wonderful coffee I had ever tasted. Then they took us to a room. They did vital signs and all that kind of stuff. They separated us, and they took my father into a room and he was interviewed for a long time. What I recall, and I don’t remember if we got the shot there at that moment. It’s kind of blurry, but then what I recall from that day also, they gave us another little box with toiletries like toothpaste, toothbrush, and all that, and for us, all that was unbelievable because in Cuba, even finding soap and toothpaste was very difficult back then.”
