Why did Gloria Estefan leave Cuba?

Gloria Estefan is a singer, actress, and businesswoman of Cuban descent. Estefan was born in Cuba but fled the island with her family as a child as a result of the Cuban revolution.

Aside from being an exile, she witnessed the Castro regime firsthand when her father was imprisoned for two years after fighting in the Bay of Pigs.

When her family fled to the United States, her father enlisted in the United States Army, fought in Vietnam, and died at the age of 47 from the effects of Agent Orange exposure.

Her mother, a teacher, had her diplomas torn up as she fled Cuba. Gloria Garcia Fajardo Estefan became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1974.

Estefan attended the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, where she earned a B.A. in psychology with a minor in French in 1979.

While attending the University of Miami, Estefan worked as an English, Spanish, and French translator at Miami International Airport’s Customs Department

In 1984, she was inducted into the Iron Arrow Honor Society, the University of Miami’s highest honor.

Estefan is a seven-time Grammy Award winner, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and one of VH1 and Billboard’s Top 100 greatest artists of all time.