"I WILL DIE INSIDE THIS EMBASSY COLONEL, BUT MY CHILDREN WILL BE FREE, AND I WILL DIE HAPPY."- Hildy's father. On April 1st, 1980, a bus with hopeful asylees crashed into the Peruvian embassy in Havana, Cuba. Within 48 hours, over 10,800 people occupied every inch of the 28,000-square-foot embassy. Among them was a fourteen-year-old girl clinging to her younger brother. Relying on the wisdom of her father, Hildy also clung to hope. Hope that would see them through appalling conditions, near starvation, and the unpredictable desperation of those around them. This true story is the detailed truth about the struggle of free thinkers, intellectuals, the clergy, and the gay and lesbian community. It is revealed as asylees wait for freedom or death. Hildy's life experiences in Cuba as a child during the Cold War and the cruelties of communism toward nongovernment sympathizers are woven into this tale of survival. Barefoot to Freedom is a real-life example of the perils of collective thinking and the threat of contemporary socialism. A must-read warning of what happens when democracy is not defended.