The Girl from Guantanamo

The Girl from Guantanamo is a captivating work of the historical fiction genre that electrifies readers with the harrowing tale of Pilar Ruiz, who as an eighteen- year- old in 1958 Cuba, improbably secured the course of the Castro Revolution. In 1958 the author was a Lieutenant(jg) in the U.S. Navy stationed aboard an iconic Destroyer Escort the USS Raymond. The Raymond made several visits to the base at Guantanamo Bay (GTMO) and an overnight foray into the harbor of Santiago de Cuba at a pivotal juncture of the Revolution. His unique perspective adds verisimilitude to his tale.

Donald Lloyd Roth

Donald Lloyd Roth is an author on a mission to make up for far too many lost years of not writing. Commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy on the day he graduated from New York’s Columbia College he has indeed seen the world, as a Navy officer, corporate attorney and entrepreneurial businessman. And many of mankind’s cataclysmic events have happened just before his arrival at a scene or immediately following his departure.

To name a few, his Navy career included support of the Red Sea patrol during the Suez Canal closing, and being present at the turning point of the Cuban Revolution. He was in charge of a business providing computer services to the Shah of Iran during the tumultuous years preceding that Revolution. He took a ride on the Paris subway on a day it was the victim of a terrorist bombing. Similarly, his visit to a Shook in Tel Aviv was followed in short order by a suicide bomber, and within the same week there was a bombing in London at a place he had just visited. He spent part of the week preceding 9/11 at the Marriott Hotel across the street from the World Trade Center, and was scheduled to fly back there from Washington, D.C. for a lunch meeting on the day of the 9/11 attack.

Don, who is also a graduate of the NYU School of Law, and holds an MBA from The Wharton School, waited to begin writing until he had retired from most, but not all of his varied business activities. He still maintains an active real estate license from the State of Delaware.

When asked what sparked his interest in The Cuban Revolution he answers; “Let’s just say I was there in the neighborhood when it happened.”