The most accurate biography of Tony Cuesta, based on direct testimony from his wife, Maria Aurelia, and surviving heroic members of Commandos L.

The Biography of Maria Aurelia Cuesta

Maria Aurelia, born in Havana, Cuba, arrived in the United States before the age of two with her parents who had desperately fled Fidel Castro’s Cuba for a life of liberty and safety for the young family.

Following college, she worked for years as a freelance journalist for the Miami Herald, including its Spanish edition, and the St. Petersburg Times, as well as other South Florida publications.

Over 15 years, on Radio Mambi and Radio La Poderosa, among others, Maria Aurelia also hosted the radio program, “Cada Dia es un Regalo”, that focused on myriad concerns and interests of Miami’s Cuban citizens.

It was an assignment from the Miami Herald, to write an in-depth feature about the freed political prisoner hero Tony Cuesta—a man blinded by a hand-grenade in a post Bay-of-Pigs skirmish, that led to their first meeting, a meeting that eventually led to friendship and marriage.  

The Cuesta union was unique, in that Tony took his wife into his complete confidence, indeed, insisting she be an in-the-background physical presence during many missions of his free-Cuban organization, Commandos L.

Their appearance together underscored the nature of the relationship: He, mythic in stature and story, never moved through crowds without his hand on her shoulder, with her hand on his, leading him surely and safely, until his death from liver disease contracted during his 12-year-incarceration in the inhumane prisons of Cuba.

Following Tony Cuesta’s death,  Maria Aurelia worked for 17 years as volunteer coordinator for several hospices, including Hospice of Southeast Florida; Odyssey Hospice; Heartland Hospice, and Seasons Hospice.  Currently, she is engaged in speaking and media events for his book, “Plomo y Fantasia”, available on Amazon.com