Chapter 1: Worms Like Us
- Why didn’t Mirta’s
parents get involved in the revolution?
- Before the
revolution, what was life like for Mirta’s parents?
- How did people
Ojito knew earn “coupons to buy plastic blenders or Russian-made
washing machines”?
- Why does Ojito
admit that her family went to church?
- What is a “gusano”?
- What kinds of
information did Ojito have to memorize?
- What did Ojito’s
teacher want her mother to do?
- What types of
questions were in the questionnaire that Ojito brought home from
school? How many questions were there?
- What was Ojito’s
graduation gift from her teachers?
- What kinds of
teacher comments were in Ojito’s student record?
- As a fourteen year
old, how did Ojito feel about capitalism?
- Why was Barbara
Walters’ interview with Fidel Castro so important?
Chapter 2: Bernardo Benes: Our Man in Miami
- When did Benes
leave Cuba? How old was he?
- What is Benes’s
political background?
- Where was Benes’s
father from and how did he make his money?
- What did Benes
first think of Castro? Why did he change his mind?
- What view of
political prisoners in Cuba did Benes and President Carter share?
- Who were the men
that Benes met with in Panama?
- What two issues
did the U.S. and Cuban governments discuss?
- What was President
Carter’s agenda and what did he do to reflect that?
- What joke did
Benes make when he met Castro? What was Castro’s reaction?
- How did Castro
react to the video of Miami Cuban exiles?
- Why was Benes’s
life threatened?
- Why did some of
the Cuban political prisoners feel that the U.S. “owed them”?
- Why was the gift
that Benes gave to his driver so significant?
Chapter 3: Butterflies
- What would have
happened to Ojito and her father if they had started the process of
leaving Cuba?
- How did Ojito’s
family celebrate her Quinceañera?
- What happened to
Ojito’s boyfriend?
- What was the
purpose of being required to travel to la escuela de campo?
- In 1969 what
holiday did the Cuban government abolish?
- What did Ojito’s
father want from her before he made plans to take the family to the
U.S.?
Chapter 4: Hector Sanyustiz: A Way
Out
- Why was Sanyustiz
told that he wouldn’t drive a bus again?
- Why did he quit
his job a bus driver and why didn’t he accept job offers?
- Why was the
Peruvian embassy so attractive to Cubans wanting to leave Cuba?
- What plan do Raul
Radames and Sanyustiz devise?
- What went wrong
with the plan?
Chapter 5: Ernesto Pinto: An Embassy Under Siege
- What was the
atmosphere like when Ernesto Pinto during the two months that Pinto
had been in office?
- Why was Pinto
selected for the job of being in charge of the embassy?
- What did General
Jose Abrantes and Pinto argue over?
- Why were the
boulders in front of the embassy cleared?
- How many Cubans
went to the embassy on the first day?
- Describe the first
meeting between Castro and Pinto.
- Describe the
second meeting between Castro and Pinto.
- What types of
privileges for “most black women” had the revolution made possible?
- By April 5, how
many Cubans had gathered at the embassy?
- What did Castro
ultimately decide would be the fate of the Cubans at the embassy?
- Describe Castro’s
smear campaign against the Cubans inside the embassy.
- How did countries
help the Cubans at the embassy?
Chapter 6: Unwanted
- What did Ojito’s
parents pick up in a suitcase?
- After the
revolution, how did elitism still exist?
- How did Sergito
view the Cubans at the embassy?
Chapter 7: Napoleón Vilaboa: The
Golden Door
- Why was Vilaboa so
willing to help the Cubans at the embassy?
- What was Vilaboa’s
plan for getting Cubans to the U.S.?
- Describe Vilaboas’
prior experiences with Castro.
- How was Vilaboa
able to get out of the Cuban prison?
- How many Cubans
marched to show their repudiation of Cubans at the embassy and to
celebrate the Bay of Pigs victory?
Chapter 8: Leaving Cuba
- How did boat
captains react to Cuban exiles who wanted to get their relatives?
- What was life like
for Ojito’s uncle as a sugarcane cutter?
- Why didn’t Ojito
and her friend Kathy speak about her departure?
- What did the Coast
Guard find on April 29 and what was the U.S. accused of because of
the Coast Guard’s actions?
- What book did
Ojito leave behind?
- How did Ojito
learn that she had become the enemy?
- What kind of
people were allowed to leave Cuba?
- What was wrong
with The Valley Chief?
Chapter 9: Captain Mike Howell: Sailing Mañana
- What did Mike
think Vietnam would be like?
- Why did Mike
decide to buy a boat?
- Where was the
Mañana’s history?
- How much money had
Mike spent on refurbishing the Mañana?
- How much did Mike
charge to bring Cubans to the U.S.?
- What conclusion
did Mike come to about whether his trip was legal?
- What had Coast
Guard officials in Key West concluded would be the only way to stop
the boatlift?
- What did President
Carter order the Navy and the Coast Guard to do at sea?
- What did the
New York Times encourage President Carter to do?
- How did President
Carter describe the U.S. at a League of Women Voters Convention?
- How did Mike react
to the news that he would have to take 300 people on his boat?
- How did the Cuban
government prove that those seeking exit permits were
“undesirables”?
- How did Castro
manipulate the number of people arriving?
Chapter 10: Tempest-Tost
- How was the Manana
treated upon arrival in the U.S.?
- How did Ojito
react when her former literature professor called her?
Chapter 11: Teeming Shore
- What was President
Carter’s new policy on Cuban refugees?
- What was the Coast
Guard’s role in the new policy?
- How were the
Mariel Boatlift exiles treated after sometime?
- What kinds of
people did the America carry?
- What became of
Sanyustiz?
- How many vessels
did the Coast Guard estimate were either overloaded or filled to
maximum capacity upon returning to the U.S.?
- How did ADM Joe
Costello react to the choice he was given to “accept” or “shoot”
people onboard the Red Diamond?
- What point did a
Miami Herald story demonstrate regarding crime in Miami?
|
