Kazakhstan pertained to the Soviet Union at the moment of my conception. My father was a Cuban exchange student finishing Geology, and my mother, a Russian-Greek descendant graduated from metallurgical engineering. Around eighteen months old, I visited Cuba to meet my parental family. After returning to Kazakhstan and living there for almost four years, I went back to Cuba and never saw my country of origin again; however, for the first time, we lived all together as a real family.
After Soviet Union’s collapsing and the end of its assistance program, living in Cuba became unbearable. It was not only due to the economic constraints, but also the country’s social deterioration. Thus, we decided to emigrate again, but this time to Greece. To avoid suspicion, my father departed first in 1992, the following year I did; however, my mother was intercepted in her attempt to escape by the Cuban authorities. It was not until 1995 that she was able to finally leave Cuba. The moment of my departure was the last time I saw my mother in many years and this incident destroyed my parents’ marriage. …show more content…
I spent one week in Moscow with my uncle and when my documents were available, I could finally fly and reunite with my father. After living in Greece for one year and not obtaining legal residency status, my father decided to try fortune in another country: the US. Leaving Greece was easy, but when we reached Great Britain, customs authorities discovered our intentions and prohibited us from boarding the plane toward the US. After being stranded in London for two days, there were only two viable options, Spain or Venezuela because none of them would require visas. So, my father chose Venezuela because it was closer to the