Díaz García Wins the ‘Bible and I’ competition

José Aurelio Paz, HAVANA, Cuba, October 9, 2003

Roberto Díaz García, an actor and member of an Evangelical Church in the Cuban capital Taxi Heathrow Airport won the “Bible and I” competition organized by the Cuban Council of Churches’ (CCC) Biblical Commission and Communications Area.

Diaz’s letter was chosen from nearly 100 entries because of the moving story it told.

He wrote about how he had abandoned his home in 1993 because he was no longer welcome there. He had been married for 30 years and has two grown up children and everything fell apart in a matter of minutes. He lost his job as an actor and became an alcoholic.  

He went to an abandoned house to seek shelter. However, a few days later it was up for demolition and he essentially became a street person. He sought help from some friends but they turned their backs. With dirty clothes, a beard and long hair, overnight be became an outcast.

“So, on October 1 that same year I decided to end my life. I walked aimlessly and thought only of how to do it,” said Diaz.

He recalled a thorny, rocky hillside where he had filmed the death of Jose Marti for a documentary in 1970, a place where no one had been since.

“I thought that to die where I had lived the high point of my career, when I played the most important person in Cuban history, would be ideal and very ironic. I would take some 50 pills and leave a note exonerating any supposed murderer from guilt,” he wrote.

“It was perfect. They would likely find my body when all that was left was a group of bones spread across the rocks. And, at this point, even my children would have forgotten me,” he said.

According to the author as he planned and got drunk in order to implement his plan he somehow ended up in a long corridor and met a pastor from the Evangelical Free Church. He had reached a church in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Havana.

“When that man smiled at me and invited me to Bible Study it was like being carried in Jesus’ arms. We talked for more than an hour. I told him my drama and he taught me about who could carry my load and redeem me.”

That same afternoon I had a revelation when he opened the Bible and read from its pages: You have turned my lament to dancing, you filled me with joy.

“The guest preacher that night based his words on Luke 9:62; "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." In that same instant I was cured. My empty life began to be filled. I recovered my family and was once again a good man. Jesus had rescued me.”

The competition was convened to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the creation of the CCC’s Bible Commission. The awards ceremony will take place on the first Sunday in December when Cubans celebrate World Bible Day.