Honoring and Remembering My Tia Sonia
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What was life like in Cuba before and after the revolution?
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Welcome, it is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you. And today is a really special episode of Verdict with Ted Cruz. And Senator, I want you to take it from there, but we're taking a little pause from politics and talking about someone very near and dear to you.
Yeah, on Sunday, January 25th, my aunt, my tia Sonia, went to be with the Lord. She and I were incredibly close. My tia Sonia was my father's younger sister. My dad, as you know, fought in the Cuban Revolution. He was imprisoned and tortured in Cuba by Batista's thugs. My tia Sonia was younger than he is, and so she was there after the revolution succeeded. She fought in the counter-revolution, and she was imprisoned and tortured by Castro's thugs. And she's someone who I grew up very close to.
How did Castro's regime affect daily life in Cuba?
I called her my tia loca, my crazy aunt. She is fiery. She loved liberty. She loved America. She has been ill for the last couple of months. It was not a surprise when she finally went. My cousin, Bibi, who is my tia Sonia's only daughter, has been caring for her. And she passed Sunday morning in Bibi's living room with her family around her, surrounded by family that loved her, that was praying for her. And she's gone to be with the Lord. And so our family is grieving because Theosonia was a larger-than-life personality. She had an unbelievable heart. She would help anyone.
What forms of persecution and indoctrination occurred under Castro?
She was extraordinary. And she was someone who, before she fell ill— We had my Tia Sonia as a guest on Verdict. I wanted her to come on Verdict. And tell her story. Tell her story growing up in Cuba, seeing the communist revolution, seeing Fidel Castro rise to power, and then fighting in the counter-revolution, being in a Cuban jail, being tortured in Cuba, coming to America with nothing. And so in honor of my Tia Loca, whom I loved with all of my heart – I want to give you the interview we did with my tia Sonia, an extraordinary warrior for liberty.
Welcome back to Verdict with Ted Cruz. We are joined as ever by the Senator and also by the Senator's Tia Sonia. My Spanish is not very good, but I think that was about right. Aunt Sonia.
How did Sonia's family resist the communist regime?
That is correct. Thank you. This is, in a few days, going to be the 58th anniversary of your fleeing the communist regime in Cuba. That is correct, sir. And yet we've got the leader of the Democratic Party nomination process, is praising the fidel castro regime i think we have the clip very opposed to the authoritarian nature of cuba but you know you got it's unfair to simply say everything is bad you know when fidel castro came into office you know what he did he had a massive literacy program is that a bad thing listen bernie has spent his entire life his entire career praising communist dictators but this week is his latest ode to fidel castro
frankly, just pissed me off. And this is not a joke. This guy is the front runner for the Democratic nomination to be president. And he sings the praises of Castro and Cuban communism. My dad fled Cuban in 57. My Tia Sonia was still there.
What challenges did Sonia face after leaving Cuba?
She was a kid. And so she saw the Cuban revolution firsthand and she ended up fighting against Castro. So Tia, if you would, I just want you... First of all, tell me what it was like to be in Cuba when the revolution happened, when Castro took over.
Actually, a lot of people were happy because finally somebody was coming in that was praising We're going to give you a chance to change your hope. We're going to change things around. Everybody was going to have whatever they want to. The poor will never be poor. The rich continue to have money and everybody will be the same. In reality, yes, everybody went the same, but everybody was poor. Everybody went down.
What illusion did Cuba present to foreign visitors?
Everybody got paid the same amount of money. There was no difference between the poor and the rich. Everybody lost everything they had.
It's not that everyone was rich. Everyone was poor and suffering and miserable.
And everybody was miserable. Everybody was miserable. What Bernie is saying is a bunch of garbage.
So you're there. You're a teenager.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What was life like in Cuba before and after the revolution?
0:00–1:00
2
How did Castro's regime affect daily life in Cuba?
1:00–1:48
3
What forms of persecution and indoctrination occurred under Castro?
1:48–2:44
4
How did Sonia's family resist the communist regime?
2:44–3:44
5
What challenges did Sonia face after leaving Cuba?
3:44–4:31
6
What illusion did Cuba present to foreign visitors?
4:31–4:55
7
What misconceptions exist about socialism and communism?
4:55–5:50
8
What is the human cost of communism as experienced by Cubans?
5:50–31:15
Speakers
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