Outskirts Press, INC.

HAVANA...lilting rumbas, aromatic coffee, sultry sea breezes. Sparkling white beaches by day, scintillating nightclubs after dark. This sophisticated, international capital was the crown jewel of an island paradise--until the idealism that fed the Cuban Revolution yielded a nightmare of soul-crushing dictatorship.

ADIOS HAVANA is a true account of romance and peril, adventure and patriotism. Fueled by love--love of family, of country, and of each other--a young couple must face the most wrenching of choices: remain in the country they cherish, lose the wealth and position their families strove for generations to attain, and watch their children grow up impoverished under a terrifying regime; or risk escaping with no money or possessions and leave behind everything they have ever known to begin a new life in a strange land.

Andrew Rodriguez's memoir paints his struggle, along with his young bride, to escape the communist betrayal at any cost. "Adios Havana" is a stirring energetic portrait of 1950s Cuba--its joys, its wonders, and its griefs--through the eyes of two teenagers who lived it. His story of the tragedy that is Cuba is both informed and enriched by his present perspective as a prosperous, self-made businessman and grandfather, grateful for the opportunities extended to him when he arrived virtually destitute on American soil.

A legacy to future generations, this memoir is intended to remind readers of the fragility of freedom...to describe the disintegration of a prosperous civilized society and offer counsel on how to prevent a similar catastrophe from happening in America...and to show how and why penniless refugees flourish in the land of the free--why anyone who resists oppression would be driven to tell his beloved homeland, Adios!

From Chapter One:

Now that I've tried to answer the sticky question as quickly and politically correct as I could, I shall launch this narrative by rewinding my imagination to Havana in the mid-fifties, and while at it, borrow from Dickens 's masterpiece, "Tale of Two Cities", the most fitting of all introductory lines:

"It was the best of times. It was the worst of times..."

And let it go at that.

I have learned from my ancestors that if every man writes a book, plants a tree, and fathers a child, the world around him will be more agreeable. This book is my tree. The roots reach back sixty years. Its fruits are still fresh.
Not a celebrity in any way, I'm a common man who feels compelled to share his memoirs with his adopted countrymen for the sake of reflection. Therefore, I shall raise my martini glass and propose a toast:

"May the story of our lives bring enlightenment to the blind, appreciation for our liberties in America, the resolve to learn from the past, and the tenacity to prevent negligence from tainting our country's self-determination...for centuries to come: Salud!