The House on G Street: A Cuban Family Saga

In pre-revolutionary Cuba, Pérez’s extensive family made its fortune marketing tobacco leaf to New York–based cigar manufacturers. In this nostalgic and reflective multigenerational story, Pérez proudly recalls a joyful family life built around sumptuous Sunday barbecues, exclusive country clubs, bilingual private schools, nannies, and chauffeurs. He lauds the integrity and work ethic of his prosperous ancestors: their relationships were rooted in mutual trust not just with business partners but also with factory workers and tobacco growers. Drawing on his earlier book Sugar, Cigars, and Revolution: The Making of Cuban New York (2018), Pérez, an accomplished academic, recognizes the irrepressible contradiction between the promises of the Cuban independence hero José Martí—who demanded national sovereignty and social equality—and the rampant Americanization and corrupt politics that characterized mid-twentieth-century Cuba. Initially, Pérez’s father welcomed the 1959 revolution, but the rebel leader Fidel Castro’s escalating radicalism drove the family to seek refuge across the Florida Straits. The new government repurposed the family’s stately house into a daycare center, renamed Vietnam Heroico (Heroic Vietnam). Like much of Havana, it has since fallen into disrepair.