Hilda “Hildy” Valenzuela Wendtland
I was born and raised in communist Cuba. Until I was 14 years I had daily questions growing up. Why are gay men put on forced labor camps? Why do people go to jail for expressing an opinion about the government? Why do I have to go to school every day and be ridiculed because of my faith? When the opportunity came to leave Cuba by finding political asylum at the Peruvian Embassy in Havana, my family and I went for it.
We didn’t know that within 48 hours, over 10,000 people were going to occupy 28,000 square feet. Unable to move, we had nothing else to do but to wait, pass out, regain consciousness, and wait again. For me, as a 14-year-old, it was the equivalent of entering the gates of hell.
How we survived is still a mystery to me. I made it to the USA and 40 years later, I still have nightmares about our time there. I had to tell the story of 10,000 that didn’t make it.
I have been a full-time Realtor in California for 31 years, where I live with my husband, Dennis, and our four grown children. My gratitude to Peru and the United States motivated my involvement in volunteering, community outreach programs, and writing this memoir.
Hilda has been such a great friend of ours a little did I know what she had gone through in her growing up years. Great book to read about someones struggles and how she got through them. And not only her about lots of people who were able to get out of that country and how so many are still stuck there and struggling. Proud and happy for you Hilda.
— Sylvia Estrada
I really admire Hildi’s courage and commitment to stand up for what she believed in at such an early age. It seems like Hilda was in a living hell for the entire time she was at the embassy. I admired that Hilda found a way to capture the beauty of the smallest events while being confined. The relationships she had at the embassy was detailed and full of love and caring for other human beings even when everything around her was taken away. Hildi held on to family and friends to get her through this horrible ordeal. Hildi said many of us would have done the same, but would we? I can’t imagine having as much “guts” as she did at her age. The book is well written, well thought out and mesmerrizing to read. Hilda did a great service to all those who were able to make it to freedom and to everyone in this country who belives in freedom. Thank you so much for your contribution to our past, current, and future history.
— Thomas Kinney
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