Pedro Zamora - Early Life

Early Life

Zamora was born in Diezmero, San Miguel del Padrón on the outskirts of Havana, Cuba, the eighth and youngest child in his family. His father, Hector, had fought in the Cuban Revolution for Fidel Castro, but became disillusioned with the changes after Castro came to power and revealed himself as a communist. According to Pedro, any mention of Castro in their home would result in a tirade from Hector, for which he earned a reputation with local informants, who as a result, made life difficult for the family. The Zamoras lived in a small house with a dirt floor. Food was scarce and Zamora's mother, Zoraida Diaz, would trade on the black market for food.

After the birth of their seventh child, Zoraida had been told that she would not be able to have another, so when Zamora was born feet first on February 29, 1972, the leap day of a leap year, he was regarded as charmed and treated specially by those in his community.

The Zamoras left Cuba for the United States during the Mariel Boat Lift, when Pedro was eight. After five days of processing, the entire family was set to board for the U.S. on May 30, 1980, when, mere hours before they did so, government officials ruled that his four older brothers and older sister were too close to the draft age and had to remain. The elder siblings insisted, over their parents’ wishes, that they go without them so that the younger ones would have a better life. Pedro's parents took him, his sister Mily, and his brother Jesus onto a boat filled with 250 people that had been built for half that number. The Zamoras resided for most of his life in Hialeah, Florida, a suburb of Miami. As a result of the difficulty of the family’s continued separation, Pedro became very close to his mother.

Zoraida died of skin cancer when Pedro was thirteen. Suppressing his grief, he went into denial by throwing himself into his schoolwork and by having promiscuous sex. He was an honors student, president of the Science Club, captain of the Cross-Country team, and as one of the most popular students in Hialeah High School, was voted Most Intellectual and Most All-Around. His mother's death inspired him to become a doctor, but he replaced her presence in his life by becoming sexually active with many sexual partners. He was ignorant of safe sex, as the only AIDS education he received was in the seventh grade from a man who did not present the disease as a legitimate threat to him, but as something distant that only afflicted societal undesirables like prostitutes, drug addicts and homosexuals. Things such as sex and condoms were never mentioned and so Zamora never identified himself as someone at risk. When he was fourteen, his father, suspecting his son was gay, had his brother follow him when he was supposed to be going out with a group of friends, only to find Zamora with his boyfriend. Zamora admitted his sexual orientation when his father confronted him. Hector, rather than being upset, was concerned over the homophobia to which his son might be subjected, but affirmed that he would be supportive of his son.