Carlos and Rosa de la Cruz have been married for 61 years, and when they talk, they always say “We.” When the Cuban-American couple speak separately, two words come up in the conversation: help and opportunity.
“In life, everything is about opportunities. If no one gives you an opportunity, you don’t make it and it is very important that people make it,” Rosa de la Cruz says.
The couple have made opportunities for themselves, and for others. And now, they have been recognized for their good works. This month, the Miami philanthropists received the Excellence Award from FACE (Facts About Cuban Exiles).
“He always tries to help in any way he can,” Rosa, 80, says of her husband, Carlos.
Rosa goes to work every day at the museum they started in Miami from their extensive art collection, De la Cruz Collection in the Design District.
Carlos de la Cruz, 81, is the chairman of the board of CC1 Companies, which includes the distributor of Coca-Cola in Puerto Rico and other beverages for the Caribbean. The company has more than 2,500 employees and a sales of $1 billion.
He had previously worked in an investment fund for the Rockefeller family in Spain. When he returned to South Florida in 1975, he became president of Miami National Bank. In 1984, he went into business on his own by buying the Anheuser-Busch beer distributorship in Miami-Dade County.
FACE Excellence Award
Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz were among several Cuban-Americans who received the Excellence Award on May 18. The award is given each year by Facts About Cuban Exiles at a fundraising luncheon at the Coral Gables Country Club.
The nonpartisan organization was created in 1982 by Cuban exiles to counter image issues from the Mariel exodus. In 1980, more than 120,000 immigrants from the island arrived in South Florida, including some criminals, who many say tarnished the reputation of Cuban exiles in Miami.
“We were inspired by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of the Jewish community,” explains Eduardo Padrón, president emeritus of Miami Dade College who also is president of FACE.
“Since then, the mission has been to protect and exalt the image of Cuban-Americans,” Padrón said.
Also recognized with the 2023 Excellence Award were media executive César Conde, chairman of NBC Universal; Luis de la Aguilera, president and CEO of U.S. Century Bank; and Lourdes López, artistic director of the Miami City Ballet.
“The merits of the group indicate that Cubans have not only excelled in business, but in all the arts, in education. It shows the versatility of the Cuban diaspora,” Padrón said.
Education and persistence
Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz hold education in high regard, which is why they focus on it in their philanthropy.
Carlos was 38 years old when he decided to study law at the University of Miami because his company’s lawyers used to tell him: “You don’t understand this because you’re not a lawyer,” he recalled in an interview with el Nuevo Herald.
“That can be fixed,” replied the businessman, who earned his master’s degree in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania at the age of 21 and didn’t hesitate to return to college. He became “the oldest in his class” at UM.
“Rosa and I have been educated in art, and within education, art is a language, and we believe that education improves people,” says Carlos, who was president of the UM board of trustees and also was a member of the boards of trustees of Georgetown University in Washington, Florida International University, and Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in Miami. At Belen, he donated the money for the purchase of the land where the sports stadium, which bears his name, is located.
For more than a decade, the De la Cruzes have paid to send students from the New World School of the Arts and Design and Architecture Senior High (DASH) to New York and Europe for more study.
They have obtained more than $25 million in loans to help Miami students, says Carlos, recalling that when he lived in Spain, he got $100,000 to help young people who emigrated to that country without their parents between 1966 and 1974.
Cuban identity is always present
Carlos and Rosa, who left Cuba when they were young, have maintained their Cuban identity and their activism in favor of a free Cuba.
“We have always tried to help Cubans to be seen as positive persons. We have not come to take things, but to help,” says Rosa, who met Carlos when she was 13 years old.
Today they have 5 children, 17 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren.
Rosa says that the FACE award is a recognition of the Cubans who have changed Miami.
“Carlos and I have many things in common. We both like history and art, and we have always been involved in projects for the community. It is very important to participate, not stay behind and that is what we both have done, thinking of the others.”