CUBAN SOLDIER ROBERTO SOLIS, FORMER MEMBER OF BATISTA'S ARMY, SEPTEMBER 5TH, 1959

While the revolution began, when Castro tried to take over the government, I was only 15 years old. By the time I was eighteen I was drafted into the army and started training to become a soldier the day after my birthday. I was married when I was 19 years old and that is when the battle for power had really become intense. I only had 3 days to enjoy my honeymoon, and then the government forced me to shipped right out to fight against the revolutionary army.
Castro's forces did not have to same weaponry as us or the same kind of technology that we did. Castro was getting its weapons from Brazil which were very old. They used grenades that you had to light a string and then throw it. Their weaponry was not as advanced as ours but they still had a lot of man power. There was a lot of people in our country that supported Castro and believed that he would bring great things for Cuba. While I was fighting in the mountains against the revolutionary army I was shot in the neck, but luckily the bullet only grazed my neck so I was not injured seriously. The army then took me as a prisoner, they were going to trade me and a couple of my comrades back for supplies like food and water.
While I spent my time under control of Castro I came to see who the real Castro was. Many people in the Nation thought that he was going to bring great things to this country, but I saw that he was a real mad man. I was kept in a open field with no irrigation system at all, we were forced to go to the bathroom all in one spot. He did not even give us tents to sleep in, we were out in the open at all times. We were also in great danger at all times, since we were so close to Castro's main hideout there was always the threat of our own army coming over with bombers and dropping bombs on us. Castro barley gave us the minimum resources to sustain life while being held captive. It was a very hard life, always having not a lot of food, just enough so we were healthy and could still be traded away for the supplies that he desperately needed.
On the last day that we were being held captive, before we would be sent back to our homes so we can meet up with our families again, Castro had all of us get showered and meet him in his main dinning hall to have dinner with him. While we were there Castro tried to convince us that the things that he was proposing to do would help the country. He talked about how everyone would be equal and have the same amount of money. No body would have a lot of money and everything would be shared. Even though he tried to make everything sound good I could still see that what he was doing would not benefit us.
When I got home and rejoined with my family, I told them how horrible Castro was and that his ideas on how he would improve the country would never work, but none of them would believe me. They all thought that he would be great. When I told them we should leave and go to America none of them wanted to listen, so I went to America by my self to start a life so I could send over some money for them to come over to America. After being their for 8 months I heard America and Cuba were going to end all relations, so I got told my wife to bring my son and all of their jewelry over, the only problem was my mother in law did not think things would be that bad so she stayed and kept all of her jewelry. A week after she left all of my mother in laws possessions, including jewelry was taken from her by the government.