Sen. Ted Cruz

I was never a communist.

But as my dad describes it, he said the revolution were a bunch of kids like him.

They were 14 and 15 year old boys who didn't know any better.

And Batista was was a dictator.

He was corrupt.

He was in bed with the mafia.

And so my father fought for several years in the revolution.

And then when he was 17, they caught him and they threw him in jail and they tortured him and beat him badly.

And they let him go.

And at that point, my grandfather, my abuelo said, look, they know who you are.

They're just going to kill you.

And so my dad was a freshman at University of Havana at the time.

And so he applied to three U.S.

universities.

He applied to University of Miami, LSU, and University of Texas, and UT let him in.

So 1957, my father takes a ferry boat from Havana to Key West, and then takes a Greyhound bus from Key West all the way to Austin, Texas.

Shows up in Austin, can't speak English, has $100 in his underwear.

And gets a job washing dishes, making 50 cents an hour.

And he worked full time.

He went to school full time.