Cuban Son Rising

July 15, 2020
In this memoir, a journalist recounts his long career and his struggles with his identity as an HIV-positive gay man. The son of Cuban immigrants, Charles Gomez was the first Hispanic on-air journalist ever hired by CBS News. By the time he was 26, he had interviewed heads of state and covered war zones in multiple countries. But his greatest challenge came in his late 30s when he learned he was HIV-positive. The diagnosis--which the author felt compelled to keep from his co-workers--sent Gomez into a deep depression, leading to drug use and thoughts of suicide. This memoir is a chronicle of the author's many trials, which included covering "bang-bang" revolutions in places like Nicaragua and El Salvador, trying to present a positive image for Latinos in journalism, and surviving a massive heart attack. It is also the account of his attempt to reconcile with his 88-year-old father, Shorty, a widower and volunteer security guard at his local Roman Catholic church. "I had spent a lifetime worrying whether God would punish me for sinning," recalls Gomez. "And I also spent a lifetime worrying that Papi would stop loving me if he learned his hijo (son) was gay." In 2016, the author wanted to take a trip with his father to Cuba, the homeland that Shorty had not returned to in 65 years. It would be an attempt for the two men to be honest with each other about who they were and how they felt, back in the country where their story began. Gomez's prose manages to capture the self-doubts of his younger years and the wisdom of his later ones: "It wasn't only the war I worried about dealing with in El Salvador. I was a gay man in the closet, and I didn't want to be perceived as too weak to cover the war. How one was perceived could be a factor in getting an interview with a tough general or gaining the confidence of a guerilla leader." The confluence of sickness and war, Cuban views of masculinity and American views on Latinos, and the tension between public and private tragedies make Gomez's memoir a memorable and thought-provoking read. A well-constructed and open-hearted account of family, journalism, and AIDS.

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