Martinez and his 13-year-old brother joined 15,000 other young Cubans relocated to the United States as part of Operation Peter Pan, an effort sponsored by a coalition of Catholic organizations. They landed in a refugee camp in Miami.
"I went from being a privileged young kid to finding myself in the Miami airport with no money, no command of the language, no parents to give me advice, and responsible for both myself and my brother. I knew that from that point on I would have to make the choice either to crumble or to survive," he says. "I had to become a man in a matter of minutes."
He made the choice to survive, and it would serve him well. The luck of the draw did not go Martinez' way, and he and his brother were sent to an orphanage in New Orleans. Reluctant to talk about it today, he describes it simply as "not a nice place." He is quick to add, however, that he is not complaining and would not trade the freedom he found in America for the life he would have had in Cuba.
"Those were difficult circumstances and difficult times," he states simply. "Thousands of kids were coming in, and some ended up in nice places. Ours was not quite as good, but I'm not complaining. You have to play the hand that's dealt you, and I believe those experiences are what made me what I am today."
Over the past decade, Martinez Associates has grown from a temporary personnel agency to a full-service IT firm. It offers its clients IT planning services, project management, quality assurance programs, document management, technical writing, custom system development and implementation and Web development.
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