In 2009, I started trying to get a Florida landmark plaque for the camp where I was and for the city. And when I started doing research, mainly it was through the internet, I started to see that Cuba had changed the history. And so I decided that I wouldn’t allow that because I was so proud of my parents’ decision. And all of a sudden, I was finding out a totally different story. And so I got together with a few Pedro Pans, and at first, we started giving lectures at universities and schools and stuff like that. And then we started doing little small exhibits. And then we did a larger one at HistoryMiami in 2015. We did another one in, we have the one for the Freedom Tower in 2014, FIU. So we started doing things like that, and then we did a documentary. And the documentary we took to most of the universities, all universities in the Miami area.

(01:15)
And then we started thinking about another exhibit because the one in HistoryMiami was six months. And we were scattered all over the United States and actually the world. And by the time people decided that they wanted to come and bring their family, it was already closed. So, then I started negotiating with the museum to see if we could do the exhibit here. And all of a sudden, the museum landed in my hands. And then I became the museum director and then the curator of the exhibit at the same time.

(01:47)
The most important thing in everything that I’ve done, the exhibits prior to this one and the documentary and everything, is that it’s hard for people to understand our parents’ decision, a decision that we’re very proud of and that we fully understand. But it’s hard for people to think, “How can I let go of my children?” And so my idea is so that people could walk in my parents’ shoes as much as possible, although it is impossible because you had to be there with your feet on the fire as it was happening.

(02:17)
But I’m trying to get people to understand it because it was really a very simple decision. There was no other way. We were going to be separated from our parents, and we were going to be separated and we would be in the hands of the government and the militiamen that hated us and called us names. So, it was really an easy decision as far as there was no other decision for them to make other than to come as a family, and it was not possible for our family. And so, I want people to understand that, and that’s the whole reason behind everything that we do.