[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 152 (Thursday, November 12, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2330-E2331]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           MIGUEL AND CARMEN COSSIOS ARE SUCH A SUCCESS STORY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JACK KINGSTON

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 12, 1998

  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, patriotism--love of country--is a quality 
that seems to be particularly characteristic of Americans. What is even 
more remarkable is that those born abroad who choose to make America 
their adopted country often come to share the same patriotic spirit 
that Americans display in their daily lives. Immigrants who come to our 
shores seeking a better life often find that their new lives are a 
struggle, but a struggle that pays off more than they could ever have 
dreamed.
  There are so many places around the world where hard work does not 
result in real opportunity and success. But American success stories 
are all around us--especially from those who came from overseas and 
started from nothing but a desire to make a better life for themselves.
  Miguel and Carmen Cossios are such a success story. Dr. Cossios and 
his wife fled their native Cuba in 1968 after witnessing first-hand how 
thoroughly socialism crushes the human spirit and corrupts the soul. 
These two brave freedom-lovers fled Fidel Castro's communist tyranny 
and decided to start all over again. Penniless but determined to 
achieve their dreams in a country that encourages everyone to pursue 
his dreams to the fullest, the Cossios built a new life for themselves 
in Baker County, Florida. Their life stories are an inspiration to all 
Americans, present and future. Miguel and Carmen are great Americans.

            [From the Baker County, FL Press, Feb. 23, 1995]

 The Sheer Determination To Start All Over--Retirement of Cossios but 
                   Part of a Remarkable Refugee Saga

                           (By Jim McGauley)

       Imagine yourself a young man of 42 with an intense love of 
     your native country, a proud heritage steeped in the 
     military, a medical degree and a lovely family including four 
     young sons who all bear the same first name out of deference 
     to their distinguished ancestors.
       Now imagine yourself with nothing.
       No job, no country, no home, no possessions, no money--none 
     of the things that in 1995 link us to survival. Nothing 
     except a proud determination to begin again and transplant 
     the traditions of your forefathers to another shore where the 
     freedom to do it all over again is to you ``like oxygen.''
       It's the stuff that has made real patriots of people like 
     Cuban born Miguel Cossio and his wife Carmen, who retire this 
     week from Northeast Florida State Hospital in Macclenny after 
     a combined 48 years of service, he as a psychiatrist and she 
     a pharmacist. Patriots in love with two countries, their 
     native land where they hope someday freedom returns, and 
     their adopted land that rewarded them for grit and 
     determination.
       The Cossios were feted last Thursday to a reception and 
     retirement ceremony at the hospital where Miguel has filled a 
     number of roles on the medical staff since he first reported 
     there in 1971, including clinical director. During a brief 
     ceremony they accepted plaques from the state and co-workers, 
     and Dr. Cossio told the group he would like to be remembered 
     as a ``Cuban Baker County redneck.''
       Though Dr. Cossio has some reservations about the 
     conversion of NEFSH from an accredited ``medical model'' to 
     the present UTR system, he credits the institution as central 
     to the family's re-emergence in its adopted country.
       ``Everyone here has been so gracious to us. We think of the 
     hospital and Macclenny as our home town. I am very glad to 
     say our headquarters will continue to be in Baker County.'' 
     The Cossios recently bought a house in Macclenny, unique in 
     itself because most of the medical staff lives outside Baker 
     County since the closing of on-campus housing several years 
     ago.
       The road to last Thursday and this week, which marks the 
     Cossios' actual retirement date, began shortly after Miguel 
     and Carmen landed in Miami as penniless refugees in December, 
     1968. Cuba had been Fidel Castro's a full decade by then, and 
     the repressive regime was ridding itself of a meddlesome 
     intelligentsia, family by family.
       It was Dr. Gustavo Arias, then clinical director at NEFSH, 
     who first summoned Miguel Cossio down here from Binghamton,

[[Page E2331]]

     N.Y. to interview as a staff psychiatrist. Public and private 
     medicine, particularly on the East Coast, was by the early 
     1970's dotted with refugees from the island nation just off 
     Key West. It was the kind of network that brought Dr. Cossio 
     back together with Arias, a former supervisor at the military 
     hospital in Havana and at the big psychiatric hospital there.
       For nearly three years, Dr. Cossio crammed for the 
     qualifying exam for foreign physicians (he had to learn 
     English first), which he passed on the first try. Carmen, his 
     high school sweetheart, supported the family in New York as a 
     pharmacist (she held a doctorate from the University of 
     Havana). When Arias, a former partner in private practice in 
     Cuba, had an opening on the staff here, he called his old 
     friend.
       ``Our struggle to leave Communist Cuba was extremely 
     difficult,'' says Dr. Cossio with a shake of the head. ``I 
     look back now at what we went through, and it could easily be 
     the theme of a mini-series, I tell you.''
       Before signing on at NEFSH, Dr. Cossio had to re-take a 
     residency program in psychiatry at a New York mental 
     hospital. The move to Macclenny was also the family's first 
     experience in a rural area.
       The boys, Miguel, Eduardo, Carlos and Roberto, were still a 
     bit weak in English but assimilated well into Baker County 
     schools. They mirrored the friendly demeanor of their parents 
     and were excellent athletes. Miguel was an all conference 
     pick and most valuable player on the Wildcat baseball squad, 
     and along with his brothers lettered in several sports.
       All the boys went on to college and medical school, and now 
     practice in Georgia: Micky and Eddie as internists in 
     Madison, Carlos an endocrinologist in Athens and Robert a 
     pediatrician in Savannah.
       They all have the first name of their father, as do the 
     male grandsons, because Dr. Cossio wants to preserve the 
     memory of his father and grandfather, who he calls ``men of 
     strong principles.''
       ``They fought for freedom and independence of our 
     motherland. In September, 1933, my father was a prominent 
     officer in the Cuban Army and died in a battle in Havana 
     during a rebellion.
       ``He lost his life fighting in defense of national 
     principles. For my ancestors, like for us, freedom has been 
     as important as oxygen. This is the basic reason we are in 
     the USA.''
       Carmen and Miguel plan to keep their licenses current 
     though are unsure now how active they will remain in their 
     professions. Several years ago, the 69-year-old Miguel gave 
     into the pleas of his sons and underwent a multiple heart 
     bypass operation at Emory University in Atlanta, and credits 
     it with renewed energy that he plans to devote to politics 
     and his beloved Cuban clubs in Jacksonville and Miami. It was 
     through the Republican Party in South Florida that Dr. Cossio 
     became involved last year in the Jeb Bush campaign for 
     governor.
       ``Rest? I doubt it. I cannot imagine my husband sitting at 
     home watching TV day and night. He has always been very 
     active,'' observes Carmen.
       Along with politics and keeping up with his pals, Dr. 
     Cossio plans to see more of his sons and the couple's eight 
     grandchildren (another is expected this spring). He may even 
     start on his memoirs.
       One of the plaques last Thursday was presented by Dr. 
     Alfredo Romeu, a childhood friend with a similar refugee 
     background who also plans to leave NEFSH along with his 
     physician wife Esther in the near future. They are near the 
     last of a line of Cuban born doctors that have worked at 
     NEFSH in its three and a half decades of existence.
       Like most of his contemporaries, Dr. Bossio yearns for the 
     day that Cuba tosses off the Castro regime and rejoins the 
     American community of nations.
       ``Before we die, we would like to see freedom and 
     prosperity in Cuba again. We still have close relatives and 
     friends there, living in horrible slavery and poverty.
       ``As soon as that happens, we can say, `God, thanks again 
     for everything, now we can rest.' For us it will then be time 
     to face eternity. Our mission on Earth has been 
     accomplished.''
       Words from the mouth of someone who truly knows what it 
     takes to get there.

     

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