His parents were both educators and
Justo’s first contact with the vocation of teaching and mentoring came while watching his father
teach mathematics to aspiring university applicants in their tiny living room. The wall to wall,
book-filled bookcases his father had at home afforded Justo the opportunity to read world
literature at an early age. His entrepreneurial bend became evident quite early,
as he traded comic
books, gave tours of the old Havana buildings to European visitors, and dove in the sparkling
waters of the Caribbean in search of discarded fishing line, entangled at the bottom of the sea, in
order to resell them to fishermen. By 1968 Justo’s parents knew they had to send him out the island if he was to have a free
and successful life and so, at great sacrifice to their living situation, they were able to get him on
the last KLM flight out of Cuba to Spain. While in Spain, at age 15, he jumped at the opportunity
to teach the little English he knew to other Cuban children who awaited their passage to the
United States. Justo realized then he loved leading individuals and groups of people in learning
something of value and bettering their lives. He arrived to live with his aunt in New York City in
1969. By 1975, Justo was pursuing his bachelor’s degree in liberal arts and practicing
Okinawan Go Ju Karate, one of the martial arts styles in which he would excel. In 1977 he
entered Graduate School to study Spanish Language and Literature, which he also taught at
evening classes as an associate instructor at Lehman College. In 1980 the unexpected exodus of
Cubans called the Mariel Exodus, had him dropping out of classes, disappearing overnight, and
traveling to Key West, where he jumped on a shrimp boat with a band of Cuban rescuers going to
Cuba to take out relatives and bring them back to the US. After 29 days floating in the Mariel
Bay, they could not wait any longer, for the ship’s crew had to go back home. They had literally
eaten all the shrimp of the previous catch and now told the Castro soldiers to load up anybody
they wanted on the boat as well as the relatives they claimed. Morning came and busloads of
people boarded their ship, the Water Brother II. But there was no sign of Justo’s parents
anywhere. Arriving at Key West he happily found out his parents had been sent on a different
ship and waited for him in Miami while the FBI and the CIA were debriefing them. By 1994, Justo was able to successfully defend his dissertation for his doctorate degree
and was teaching high school and college classes in Florida. His wife Ida and he had started a
family and over the years the number of children grew to ten! The couple say that courage, love,
compassion, faith, dedication, communication, and hard work are the ingredients for their
successful marriage and family life.
