Cuba
Victor Garcia-Rivera: From Cuba to American Diplomacy
Fled Castro's Cuba as a child with almost nothing and joined the Foreign Service once it opened to gay Americans.
- Fled
- Cuba
- Status
- Fled persecution
- Arrived in the U.S.
- as a child
- Service
- Foreign Service Officer (from 2012); consular officer, Tijuana
- Region
- Cuba
Victor Garcia-Rivera's family fled the Castro dictatorship when he was a child, leaving Cuba with little more than the clothes in their luggage.
For years he was kept out of diplomacy because, as a gay man, he could not obtain a security clearance under the rules of the time. He worked as a musician and in business, and produced the first rock radio program broadcast to Cuba. He joined the Foreign Service in 2012 and served his first tour as a consular officer in Tijuana.
Read the history behind this story on the Cuba page, or browse all the diplomats.