Portrait of an Exhilarating Existence
Dr. Blanca Rosa García

Juan Suárez - Juan Suárez Rodríguez was born on September 22, 1924 in the city of Manzanillo, in the Cuban province of Oriente. The son of two Spanish emigrants, he spent his childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood in the town of Camajuaní, in the province of Las Villas. On January 9, 1936, at the age of eleven, he left primary school to work at a grocery store. Two years later, with just two dollars and eighty cents to his name, he started his first business.

With no formal training and a total of $28 in his pocket, he left home for Havana in October of 1943, soon after turning nineteen. There, he had to rely on his resourcefulness and audacity in order to survive. This great adventure lasted seventeen years. By late 1958 he had achieved the type of success and happiness most people only dream of. A self-made man, he was the owner of a prestigious typography company, Tipografía J. Suárez S.A. He had also married the woman he loved and they had had their first child. He had reached the pinnacle thanks to his initiative and dedication, protected by divine providence.

On January 1, 1959, everything changed. Cuba was about to be sacrificed on the altar of communism by a diabolical tyrant. In search of freedom, Juan, then 35 years old, his wife, and their young son were forced to leave their country, experiencing the pain that comes with living in a foreign land. Like so many others in the Cuban diaspora, he has fought indefatigably in the struggle for Cuban liberation.

Juan and his wife Carmen, along with their two sons (the second of which was born in the United States), moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico, in September of 1961. There, they were faced by the tremendous challenge of starting over again. Twenty years later, the miracle had occurred. They had risen from the ashes like the phoenix.

After they had accomplished twice what few people are capable of achieving even once in a lifetime, Juan’s faithful companion fell prey to the destructive effects of Alzheimer’s disease. This painful process, which would last fifteen years, totally transformed Juan’s life. He decided to devote himself completely to his wife’s care, his only other activity being to put down in writing the story of his and Carmen’s lives. He began to write what would eventually become his first book, Against the Wind, in 1983. After selling his company and the family house in Puerto Rico, he and Carmen moved to Orlando in September of 1988 to be near their children.

By late 1990, Juan had completed his manuscript and began to look for a publisher. His search led to our first encounter, which took place in Orlando on June 11, 1991. When I met him, he was completely devastated. Gradually, I was able to observe in our subsequent meetings that his emotional state was slowly improving. As the publication of his book became a reality, his pain mutated, finally captured on paper in black and white forever. It’s amazing how pain can modify human behavior.

After the publication his book and its official presentation at the Big Five Club in Miami on November 15, 1991, our professional relationship continued as we promoted the book and attended related events. Our continued contact led to the idea of establishing Ediciones Suagar, a vehicle for publishing and promoting new books we already had in mind. By the fall of 1992, we had begun to plan our next publication,
Revelaciones de una gaviota (Revelations of a Seagull).

We had both lost our spouses. Suddenly we realized that God and our guardian angels had brought us together. Once we had discovered our mutual feeling for one another, our relationship radically changed. On
August 28, 1993, we were married in St. Dominic’s Church by the Reverend Father José Leonardo Vázquez†.