Book Leaving Cuba: One Family's Journey to Freedom ( Dejando Cuba: el Viaje de Una Familia a la Libertad by Lala Suarez Mooney): Born in Cuba, Lala Mooney is one of 14 children of Manuel Suarez & Eloisa Gaston. She was put in prison in 1961 by Fidel Castro’s government, together with her father and two sisters. After two months, the family managed to be released from prison, and they came to the US.