The Last Train Stop

Carlos E. Martínez, Brigadier General, USAF, Retired

I was born in Havana and came to the United States with my family when I was less than three years old. I first lived in several northern cities, but at the age of six my parents bought a house in Miami to be closer to family in Cuba. For the next four years we went on vacation to Cuba. But after Castro took power we could not go back anymore. We were, however, able to continue to see the family because for the next several years many passed through our house having come as refugees from Cuba.

My parents welcomed everyone with open arms. Some would stop by our house for just a few days. Others had to live in our house until they could settle in their new country. For example, my two parents, my aunt and uncle, my two cousins, and myself lived in our two-bedroom house for a long time. I really liked having my cousins there — I thought of them like the brothers I never had. Little by little, they all got jobs and were able to establish their own homes.

This story is one that many Cubans know well — the need to start their lives over in a strange place. What they all had in common is that they had to leave everything in Cuba, and they arrived here with nothing more than what they could put in a suitcase. But, thanks to the wealth of this country and the freedom they found here, they were able to survive their expulsion from their homeland.

This same story has been repeated many times by immigrant groups from around the world, many coming here as refugees from poverty, war, hatred, crime, and torture. The Statue of Liberty has always served as a beacon to guide them to a place where they could find better lives. I live in the suburbs of the capital of this country. In our neighborhood are Vietnamese, Syrians, Mexicans, Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Iranians, Nigerians, and many more. Everyone has come here because America has always been the best place on the planet to live and raise a family.

Today I fear that these times are coming to an end. Today we have a president who calls immigrants from the south of our border criminals, who does not allow refugees from Syria to flee from war, and who considers all Muslims as enemies of this country. By his words and actions, he has ignited hatred against immigrants and people of color, sometimes resulting in the death of innocent people. Also, this president is very fond of tyrants like Vladimir Putin, Kim Jung-un, Recep Ergodan, and Xi Jingping. He wants to be like them and has even joked that perhaps he will be able to be president not just another four years, but possibly eight or twelve more years. Like these tyrants, this president has used his justice department for his own benefit and has abused his presidential powers to pardon people who have committed crimes on his behalf. Also, like a tyrant, he has used his police forces to suppress public protests. Finally, as dictators always do, this president has told thousands of lies over the past four years to deceive the public.

One of the lies he now tells to scare voters is that Joe Biden and the Democrats are socialists who are going to establish a socialist and communist dictatorship like that of Cuba or Venezuela in this country. The truth is that Joe Biden and the Democrats have always supported a capitalist economy. This lie is aimed to confuse and deceive people who do not know that socialism is quite different from social programs such as Social Security and Medicare. To expand these programs for the benefit of more people is all that the Democrats want to do, not establish a socialist economy.

I fear that if people do not wake up and recognize the president as the would-be dictator that he really is, it is very possible that this nation will stop being the last refuge we could count on. The truth is that there is no other country in the world to which we can flee. This is “the last train stop.”

So, this election season, do not sit idly by. Get out there and vote as if your future and the future of our sons and daughters depended on your vote and do what I will do: give Joe Biden my vote for president.