Only the second son of eleven children to survive to adulthood (of twenty-two) born to María Teresa Rosado, my maternal grandfather Heriberto Rodríguez Rosado—better known in the family as “Chichi”—started selling mangoes on the streets of Cienfuegos with a goat named Alicia at the age of nine. That’s when Candido González, the Spanish-born owner of this small butcher shop and dry goods store on El Prado, the city’s main street, spotted his talent. Although Chichi had only the fourth-grade education that his older sisters and life on a small farm near Cumanayagua could offer, he was disciplined, ambitious and desperate to support his mom, younger brother and nine sisters. Chichi’s dad, a veteran officer in Cuba’s Liberating Army in the War of 1895-1898 against Spain, had just died of tuberculosis. Grateful to the Cuban Republic and not Spain for his business success, Candido presented Chichi with a deal: if he slept in the bodega overnight to serve as an alarm system in case of theft or fire, he could work and learn accounting from him during the day. He could also bring home a small salary, canned goods a month away from the date they would expire, and luxuries like Iberian cheese and smoked meats to his family at least once a week. Chichi took the job for the next ten years! Shown here at the age of 15, he proudly sported a tie and a giant Spanish chorizo at the shoulder for a photograph in an advertising campaign. Cans of La Primera-brand lard foreground the scene. Flanked by a balloon-toting boy holding a Spanish ham and a strikingly blue-eyed store manager, Candido, dressed in the simple white clothes of a butcher, stands by Chichi’s side. Cienfuegos, 1925.
