Gustavo Mestas talk with his daughter Ileana Smith about the decision he made to escape from Cuba with his family in 1963. A doctor in Cuba, Gustavo arrived in Florida not knowing if he would be able to practice medicine in the United States, but after working jobs picking tomatoes and cleaning motels while attending medical school in the evenings, he was eventually able to begin a practice.

Originally aired August 15, 2008, on NPR’s Morning Edition.