Rafael Bienvenido Cruz
Rafael Bienvenido Cruz y Díaz (born March 22, 1939) is a Cuban-American Protestant preacher and father of Texas U.S. Senator Ted Cruz. He regularly serves as a surrogate in his son's political campaigns. Early life Cruz was born in Matanzas, Cuba, in 1939. His father, also named Rafael Cruz, was a salesman for RCA, originally from the Canary Islands, Spain. His mother, Emilia Laudelina Díaz, was a teacher. Cruz attended Arturo Echemendia primary school in Matanzas. Cruz joined the Cuban Revolution as a teenager and "suffered beatings and imprisonment for protesting the oppressive regime" of dictator Fulgencio Batista. Cruz enrolled at the age of 17 at the University of Santiago in September 1956. According to Cruz, as a teenager, he "didn't know Castro was a Communist". Cruz has stated in interviews that he was jailed by Batista for several days in June or July 1957 and after he was released he applied to and was accepted by the University of Texas in August 1957. He ...
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Matanzas
Matanzas (Cuban ) is the capital of the Cuban province of Matanzas. Known for its poets, culture, and Afro-Cuban folklore, it is located on the northern shore of the island of Cuba, on the Bay of Matanzas (Spanish ''Bahia de Matanzas''), east of the capital Havana and west of the resort town of Varadero. Matanzas is called the ''City of Bridges'', for the seventeen bridges that cross the three rivers that traverse the city (Rio Yumuri, San Juan, and Canimar). For this reason it was referred to as the "Venice of Cuba." It was also called "La Atenas de Cuba" ("The Athens of Cuba") for its poets. Matanzas is known as the birthplace of the music and dance traditions danzón and rumba. History Matanzas was founded in 1693 as ''San Carlos y San Severino de Matanzas''. This followed a royal decree ("''real cédula''") issued on September 25, 1690, which decreed that the bay and port of Matanzas be settled by 30 families from the Canary Islands. Matanzas was one of the re ...
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