Latina Experience

My Freedom, My Legacy
By Sara Alvarez
March, 2006

In thinking about people to feature in this issue on Freedom, I was assigned the task of finding candidates who would share their story and most importantly, share their story with me, a complete stranger. I would need to find someone who would grant me the privilege. I knew that this was an assignment that I could do, since I lived in a prominently, hard working Latin community; my faith and instinct guided me on the idea that my story was right in my neighborhood. My first tries were unsuccessful, so I turned to my mom who had close ties to many community members through her church. She called my Tía and immediately my aunt nominated Emilio Arteaga.

I remembered having heard his name in family conversations, but didn't realize he had the story I needed. Apparently, he made great sacrifices to bring his family to this country. My aunt knew of this remarkable man because they were both church members and the families had become close. I was intrigued because my mom and Tía are not easily impressed by anyone. This year, the family invited my Tía to attend their annual Christian missionary trip to Nicaragua. Each year, this family would make the trip back to their homeland to draw people into relationship with Christ and His Church and evangelize Christian people.

So I thought I would go and meet this man who left Nicaragua in the ‘80s, to escape from a unstable government regime, but still went back to give back to those who had a less privilege life than him and did not enjoy the freedom he had in the United States.

I contacted Emilio Arteaga and was immediately welcome into their home. When I arrived I immediately saw a family of much love, camaraderie and unity; two of the grown children and their only grandson were visiting. As they were finishing dinner, there was much rushing around to get everything prepared for Mr. Arteaga's interview. We both sat down and he began telling me his remarkable story.

In 1979, after emerging victorious from a brief civil war, the Sandinistas had taken control of the Nicaragua's government. The Sandinistas a Marxist-Leninist based political party, founded in 1961, sole mission was to point out the injustice committed by the unstable government and how it oppressed, violated, and exploited the Nicaraguan people and violated their rights. Nicaragua was in turmoil: with a debt of $1.6 Billion debt, an estimated 50,000 dead from the civil war, 600,000 homeless and a ruined economic infrastructure.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandinista)

It was the instability of his home country that prompted Emilio to leave his country. He didn't agree with the Sandinistas' Communist ideology. Therefore, he decided to make plans to leave Nicaragua. It was a difficult decision to take as he would need to leave his family, his home and give up his job as a professor at a teaching center.

He first had to figure if he would either go to another country within Central America or to the United States. When he visited the American Consulate, he was able to obtain a visa to come to the United States; he had to move quite quickly, since the visa expired in forty days.

For the reminder of Emilio's time in Nicaragua, he prepared his young children for what would or might be a long period of separation. On March, 1983, Emilio left three sons, a daughter and wife. As he was making his way to board the plane that would take him away from his family and country, he handed his wife the resignation letter to his job at the teaching center.

Emilio arrived in New York and found a home in an aunt by marriage. During the seven months that he was separated from his family, he would be in constant communication with them. He would write personal letters to his children and though the youngest, who was four and couldn't read yet, saved his until he was able to read them later in life.

It was quite a difficult transition for Mr. Arteaga – he missed his family and home and was in for a culture shock when he had to take a job not as a professional, but as a laborer and earn a minimum wage of $3.35 an hour. He was basically doing the job that no one else wanted to do. He would work day and night, with the goal to bring his family to be with him.

After much research and phone calls, his wife was able to obtain visas for her and the children to go to Mexico City. So in January, 1984, she and the children boarded a plane from Nicaragua to Mexico City with a final destination in Tijuana. They went directly to a hotel where they met with a coyote, a trafficker of undocumented immigrants, who would take them across the border. Mrs. Arteaga was informed that she would need to leave the children behind while she crossed the border and that they would follow shortly. Mrs. Arteaga immediately called her husband in New York and told him the situation. The Arteagas had to deal with this matter carefully since many foreigners who arrived in Tijuana are usually victims of unscrupulous characters who cheated them out of their money. After many negotiations, the coyote finally consented to cross the children first and then Mrs. Arteaga in another crossing that would follow.

As the children were preparing to leave and cross the border with a total stranger, Mrs. Arteaga took the eldest to the side and explained to him to keep his siblings safe and sound until she would joined them in California. The children crossed the border through the Mexico/United States Immigration border using other children's legal papers. They arrived at the coyote's home in Los Angeles, California to wait for their mother to arrive. The children were only 12, 10, 8 and 6 and had no idea as to when they would see their mother again.

That same day, Mrs. Arteaga was able to cross the same border her children had passed through hours earlier and rejoined them. Right after their happy reunion, they boarded a plane to New York to reunite with father and husband once again. But of course things are not always that simple. Emilio received the wrong information as where his family was arriving. While he was waiting for his family to arrive at the JFK airport, his family was arriving at Newark airport. He was anguished to learn that his family was in a country where they did not understand the language and were poorly dress to face the cruel weather of the East Coast. Thankfully, he was able to get in touch with a cousin of his wife, who left his job and went off to pick up the Arteagas at the airport.

When Emilio reunited himself with his family, the emotion of seeing his family again after seven months, was wonderful. He couldn't believe that he and his family were together once again. Unfortunately, he had to leave them shortly, since they had arrived in the morning and he had to make his way to his job. But this time, he knew that instead of waiting for months to see them, he would just need to wait for hours.

The Arteaga's stayed with the cousin for a few days while Emilio looked for an apartment for his family. As soon as they were settled in their new home, they immediately made plans to enroll the children into schools and find a job for Mrs. Arteaga. She found a job working in a factory and the eldest was once again asked to help looking after his siblings.

After a while, his wife found an agency that placed people in jobs that would provide assistance in getting their green cards. In the meantime, a priest in the parish the family attended helped Emilio get information on how to attain legal status in the United States. He knew that if they all had their green cards, they would benefit from the many services the country had to offer. It was a challenge, but eventually when Mrs. Arteaga received her legal residency; it became easier for the rest.

In the meantime, everything fell into place. The children were going to school, both parents were working and everyone was together. It was clearly communicated to the children since they did not have many family members nearby, they would need to be close and unified as a family. They would try to have dinner every night together as a family and keep the line of communications open. The Arteagas would emphasize to their children the importance of getting good grades in school and be able to take advantage of all the great benefits that were provided to those who proofed themselves in school.

About the time the eldest was ready to enroll into the university, he received his green card. As a family, they all traveled to the Bahamas to get their green card. They couldn't go back to Nicaragua to get their U.S. citizenship because the Nicaraguan military would have drafted their eldest to the military.

Eventually all the Arteaga children went to college and received their degrees in some form in the science field. The eldest became a doctor. The one that followed him received his degree in Dentistry. The daughter got her degree in Pharmaceuticals and the youngest in Biochemistry. This is Emilio Artarga's legacy, well educated professionals, who with the support of not only their parents, but of the benefits this country offered to them, are able to contribute to the well being of others.

The Arteagas go back to Nicaragua once a year on their Christian missionary. The children occasionally do go back to meet up with childhood friends and family and visit the country that was once home to them. But home to them is where the family is – Brooklyn, New York. The Arteagas are a much closed knitted family. They are united by what their father started in their new home – their new country.