From Cuba With Love: My Father's American Success Story

By Chris Umpierre

Discover how a Cuban native left his homeland after Fidel Castro’s communist takeover, trained for a massive planned U.S. military attack on Castro and overcame language and cultural barriers to excel in America. “From Cuba with Love” details Pablo Umpierre’s idyllic childhood before communism. Castro nationalized all businesses, including the robust retail business Umpierre’s father had worked a lifetime to create. Pablo Umpierre chose to leave his parents, brother and extended family for a new life. When he arrived in Miami on June 16, 1962, Pablo Umpierre had just 10 cents to his name. Pablo Umpierre ended up joining a top-secret Cuban brigade commissioned by the U.S. Army. Learn about the underreported volunteer Cuban battalion, where the group trained, how the group was honorably discharged, how Umpierre settled in Los Angeles, Calif., met singer Dean Martin, found the love of his life and started a family.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Dec 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781483478265

Book preview

2017.

CHAPTER

1

Growing up in Cuba

T hud. Thud. Thud. The slamming dominoes sound like the rhythmic beats of a drum.

My grandfather, Abuelo Pablo, is on the front porch playing dominoes with friends. My grandmother, Abuela Eva, is in the kitchen cooking a mouth-watering black bean soup. It is 1940s Cuba.

Image1.jpg

Pablo Umpierre, 1, with his parents in Havana.

Love and laughs fill the Cuban home. My father, Paul Umpierre, is 5 years old. You should see the grin on his face. He’s playing with his younger brother, Wilfredo, as he watches the adults play dominoes.

He’s having so much fun that he almost forgets its time to eat.

Pablito bounces from the front porch to the kitchen, where he finds his mother standing above a simmering pot of frijoles. The aroma makes my father’s mouth salivate and his heart warm with anticipation. When will dinner be ready, he asks his mother. Abuela Eva smiles, but doesn’t look up.

Casi es tiempo, Pablito, Abuela Eva said. Casi.

My father is now 79 years old, retired, balding and living in the United States, but he can still remember the heavenly taste of his mother’s black bean soup. Dad can still remember how his mother served La Sopa, how she bent over to give him a kiss, how she flashed a small grin when their eyes locked and how she and Abuelo Pablo laughed. Oh, how they laughed.

My father’s Cuba is long gone, decimated by an evil dictator. But Dad’s memories are sharp. He can still see his childhood home. He can still his front porch. He can still see his front yard. He can still recall memories and stories from seven decades ago. He can still see the smiling faces of his uncles, aunts and cousins.

He can still see the real Cuba.

The real Cuba is how families lived before Fidel Castro. Cuba, you see, is not about communism. Cuba is about parents playing with their children on picturesque beaches. Cuba is about people dancing to the richest and most influential music in the world.

Cuba is about baseball and how kids would play the game anywhere and everywhere. Cuba is about entrepreneurs like my grandfather, Pablo Umpierre, who gained success through hard work. Despite limited educational background, Pablo Umpierre Sr. worked long hours to build a major Cuban import business.

Pablo María Umpierre, who married his sweetheart Evangelina María De Los Ángeles Hernández Umpierre, led Compañía Granera in Havana, Cuba.

The business was headquartered at Monte 876 between Matadero and Arroyo in Havana. Compañía Granera sold a cornucopia of merchandise. From Spanish wine to Chicago pork to Dutch cheese, Compañía Granera had it all.

Image2.jpg

Pablo Umpierre Sr. works the phones at Compañía Granera in Cuba.

Pablo launched the company with a business partner in 1939, and by the 1950s business was booming. Compañía Granera had $3.5 million worth of merchandise and 60 salesmen in six provinces, according to my Dad.

Pablo planned to hand the business off to Dad, who was born Pedro Pablo Umpierre until Eva had the Pedro name removed. Pablito had a special affection for his father, whom he called Viejo.

Dad loved watching Viejo work. He marveled how a man with little education outsmarted vendors. Dad remembers how a vendor once wanted Pablo to buy 1,000 cups for $4 apiece. No, Viejo told the vendor. I can’t make a profit at that price. How about I buy all of your cups for $2 apiece?

The prospect of selling all of his cups, even at a discounted price, was too good of a deal. My father got back to his store and sold each of the cups for $5, Dad recalled. Dad’s face still beams with pride.

Viejo loved doing everything for Granera. He wanted everything perfect, so he micromanaged his business. The result: Viejo wasn’t home often. Viejo didn’t go to many family events.

Viejo didn’t attend Dad’s high school graduation, which hurt my father.

My father was a private person, Dad said. He wasn’t like me who took his children to baseball games.

Viejo might have been private, but his love for his wife and his kids was undeniable. He had spent his life building his business from scratch. Everything would change, however, when a certain cigar-smoking revolutionary came down from Cuba’s Sierra Mountains.

CHAPTER

2

Big Family

Image3.jpg

Juan Umpierre’s Finca in 1954. Top row, from left to right: Pablo Umpierre Jr. Middle row: Dulce María Umpierre (Aunt of Pablo Umpierre Jr.), Yeyo Umpierre (cousin of Pablo Umpierre Sr.), Manuel Guerra (husband of Tía Dulce), José Toledo (Pablo Umpierre Jr.’s godfather), Ana Hernández Toledo (Eva Umpierre’s sister), Pablo María Umpierre, Eva Umpierre. Second middle row: Leopoldo Umpierre (Pablo Umpierre Sr.’s brother), Luisa María Umpierre (wife of Leopoldo), Wilfredo Umpierre, Mirta Umpierre (daughter of Leopoldo and Luisa), Ana María Toledo (Daughter of Ana and José Toledo), Estercita Umpierre (Pablo Umpierre Jr.’s cousin). Bottom row: Delia María Guerra (daughter of Manuel and Dulce Guerra).

D ad is a third-generation Cuban. Dad’s father and grandfather, Juan Umpierre, were born on la Perla del Caribe. Dad’s great-grandfather was a French native who immigrated to Cuba, according to research by Dad’s brother, Wilfredo Félix Umpierre. The Umpierre lineage allegedly dates back to three Umpierre brothers who left Versailles, France, in the 19 th century.

The brothers left France for Islas Canarias, Spain. One of them married a Spaniard teacher and traveled to Cuba. That Umpierre, who was my father’s great-grandfather, eventually became a stockholder of a successful Cuban beer company called Polar. He and his wife had a child named Juan Umpierre, Dad’s grandfather. A second Umpierre brother traveled to Venezuela and the third went to Puerto Rico.

The Umpierre brother who traveled to Venezuela had his named erroneously changed by immigration officials to Humpierres. That Humpierres gave birth to Valeriano Humpierres, who ended up becoming a prominent TV personality. Valeriano Humpierres was moderator of FRENTE A LA PRENSA on Venevision, one of Venezuela’s largest television networks.

I met the Humpierres of Venezuela and they showed me the family shield. I have a copy of it, said Wilfredo, who lived three years in Venezuela. As for the Umpierre who moved to Puerto Rico, I’ve met five Umpierres in Puerto Rico. Every year on January 6, they have an Umpierre family party for all the Umpierres in Coamo, Puerto Rico.

The Umpierre name is huge in Puerto Rico. I remember visiting and seeing hundreds of Umpierres in the phone book. The original Umpierre name also dates back to Spain, according to research I’ve conducted. When I traveled to Europe, I looked up the Umpierre name and found it means one rock, or una piedra.

Image4.jpg

Mother’s Day, 1945 at Carmen María Hernández’s house. Top row, from left to