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Warzone
The "War zone" pertains to the Rivas house hold where Victor and his family faced unimaginable abuse from his father, well into his teenage years.
Names to know:
Mami: Olga Rivas, Victors mother
Papi: Antonio(Tony) Rivas, Victor's father
Tony: Victor's older brother
Ed: Victor's younger brother
Barbie:Victor's younger sister -
*Content Warning*
This is a warning of the topics concerning the childhood of Victor Rivas Rivers. There is HEAVY talk of domestic/child abuse, talk of death, suicide attempts, murder, and brief talk of miscarriage. -
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The Beginning
This period of time marks what happened before Victors birth. -
Olga Rivas
On July 24th of 1953, Olga Lopez married Antonio(Tony) Rivas after leaving her long term boyfriend and quitting her job as a teacher. Two days later on her honeymoon, the charming man that she thought she had married disappeared. Thus began the cruel abuse that Olga would face for the next twenty years of her life. However, Olga was a strong woman and although Tony "did his best to obliterate her; he broke her into many pieces, but she refused to be completely vanquished"(Rivers 19). -
Tony Jr and Victor
On July 9th of 1954 Tony Rivas Jr was born. Due to the rough labor Olga(Mami) hemorrhaged and lost a lot of blood. Thankfully she survived and brought her newborn son home to the War Zone. On October 1, 1955, Victor Rivas was born. Tony Sr.(Papi) was a violent abuser but thankfully for Mami "when she was pregnant, Papi's violence tended to be restrained, so in a way she was fortunate to be as fertile as she was"(Rivers 33). -
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Sancti Spiritus
During these years, Victor and his family lived in their home country of Cuba. Unfortunately this was a time of great violence for Cuba, leading to the Rivas family moving to the United States where they would not be able to see majority of their Cuban relatives for a very long time. -
The Fall
Victor recalls a time when he was harshly punished at 15 months old. Victor was caught with his hands in his diaper as many infants do when Papi "without a second thought, gave me a stinging backhand slap"(Rivers 38). This sudden burst resulted in the falling of the high chair and Victor hitting his head on their coffee table. -
Move #1
The Rivas' experience in Chicago didn't have a great start. After leaving early to find a job in America, Papi had failed to pick up his family from the airport. Facing the vastly different weather in Chicago compared to the warm temperatures of Cuba, Mami had to find a ride to their apartment only to find that the landlords had no idea where her husband was. At 5 A.M. Papi stormed in and began yelling at Mami insulting her for not looking for him at the airport. -
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Chicago
Once they left Cuba, the Rivas family moved to Chicago, where they would spend the next seven years. -
Brotherhood
Ed was Victors younger brother. Thankfully he had two older brothers to look out for him, however, this did not mean that he did not suffer the wrath of Tony Rivas Sr. Despite trying to look out for each other, Papi had made even school an unsafe place. He would threaten to punish Tony if he did not report all of Victor's misdeeds back to him. As a result this created a sense of distrust between the brothers out of fear. -
Punishment
Majority of what the book describes as Part 1: War zone, is a description of the various methods or times that Papi abused his family. He would beat Victor with a belt to the back of the legs to the point of bleeding, there was a time that Victor was caught trying to smoke to be like his father and Papi repeatedly burned his lips with a cigarette butt, however, in my opinion, the worst instance of his abuse(at least in Chicago) was the case of Robert. -
Robert Rivas
Robert David Rivas was the fourth Rivas sibling. On one evening, well into Mami's pregnancy, Papi was taking the family out to dinner so that Mami wouldn't have to cook. While getting ready, Victor heard screaming from his parents room. He entered to find Papi kicking Mami in the stomach as she laid on the ground. This resulted in detrimental birth defects. Not wanting to deal with a disabled child, Papi forced Mami to put Robert up for adoption. Robert would later die due to health issues. -
Confusion
One time Tony had pushed Victor, resulting in victor getting hurt.. When Papi viewed the damage, he said that they had to go to the hospital. On the way home they got ice cream.Sadly. this moment was short lived because when they returned Papi "summoned Tony. He scolded him for the damage he had caused me and then slapped him. He turned and punched me in the stomach. He marched into his bedroom, closed the door and pummeled Mami on and off for hours"(Rivas 108). -
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Hawthorn
After their time in Chicago, Victor and his family would once again move, this time to Hawthorn, California. -
Sports
For a considerable amount of time Victor focused on Baseball. He had many trophies that were especially significant because they made Papi proud which didn't happen often. Even though Papi would express pride in Victor for his trophies, this did not change his violent behavior. As a result, Victor spent a lot of time at practices. For him, practice was an escape from home. Later Victor would go on to play football and participate in his high school wrestling team as well. -
Police pt. 1
On another occasion, Victor got sent to the principles office at school ending in "a three-day suspension, and Dad's company at home. He called in sick"(Rivers 143). For two days Victor suffered beating after beating sometimes with the dog chain wrapped around Papi's hand to make it hurt more. Then when Victor was in for his next beating, Papi grabbed a knife, heated over the stove flame, and placed it on Victors stomach. -
police pt. 2
When Victor returned to school, he skipped lunch and went to the police station. In front of multiple officers he revealed the "bruises, welts, cuts, scars, and a few burns.Saying nothing, I hurriedly put my clothes back on and waited to be rescued"(Rivers 144). Devastatingly, Victor was not rescued. The cops told Victor that there was nothing they could do. After all, this was "a private family matter". Victor was twelve. -
Homicide
After a certain point, the abuse became so bad that Victor began to think about killing his father. He would spend hours thinking about how he could do it. He even once asked Tony and Mami whether they would back him up if he killed Papi and said it was self defense, to which they both agreed. -
Part-time job
Somehow, Papi got the idea that Victor was lazy so he forced him to get a job. Victor began working as a paper delivery boy. However, every time he would fill up his bank, Papi would take all the money. So Victor started working a second route and hid the money. When Papi found the money, he tied one of Victor's hands to his back and the other to the table. Then he brought out the meat tenderizer and smashed Victor's hand with it. -
Weight loss
Papi had it in his head that Victor was over weight and began forcing him to lose weight by starving him. "My diet consisted of one meal a day that only he could feed to me in small portions when he arrived home from work at 1 A.M. To wake me up out of a deep slumber so I could have my meal, he usually did so with a hard slap to the face"(Rivers 151). Victor would then be asked if he got in trouble at school. If Papi accepted the answer Vic could eat, if not, he went without any meal that day. -
Mami escapes.... almost
After Papi began blatantly cheating on Mami, going as far as to move her into the garage, Mami became very sick. She collapsed on the street and was taken to the hospital. Papi made no effort to get her back home, so Mami took this opportunity and moved into her friend's apartment. Papi put up no protest as he basically hated Mami by this point. Olga Rivas had finally managed to escape from her abusive husband, at least for a little while. -
Low points
On multiple occasions Victor's mental health deteriorated to the point of not only wanting to kill his father but himself as well. He states that even in when he had things to look forward to such as "the knowledge that I would be pitching the next day wasn't enough to keep me from trying to permanently escape from our war zone"(Rivers 149). Victor got hit In the nose and began to bleed. Instead of stopping it, he repeatedly punched himself in the face in an attempt to bleed out in his sleep. -
Mami escapes... Almost pt.2
After Papi's mistress left him he begged Mami to come home. In order to protect her children, Mami returned home. A few weeks later Papi emotionally manipulated Mami into sleeping with him. Soon she was pregnant with her last child. "When he found out he asked me to abort the child and I said no. He stated it would then be my problem."(Rivers 167 quote from Mami) -
The final move
The last move of the Rivas family would be from their home in Hawthorne California to Miami Florida. Papi convinced the children that their mother had abandoned them. He then kidnapped them, forcing the children to live with no other adult than their father. -
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Miami
After years of facing abuse, mental, physical, and verbal, Victor would make one final family move. This time Antonio Rivas had decided to abandon the mother of his children and kidnap them, taking them all the way from California to Florida. He had told his children that their mother did not love them anymore and packed them up into his impala in the middle of the night. -
Roadtrip
Victor and Tony had to stay awake while Papi drove so that they could take care of the younger siblings. Not only that but they had to stay awake while Papi slept so that they could wake him up when it was time to get back on the road. -
Football
Papi had been convinced that Victor would become a professional baseball player so he had refused to let him play football. However, when Papi took the kids to get registered for school, the football coach "took a look at both Tony and me and told dad he was impressed with our physical size. 'are your boys coming out for the team?'"(Rivas 182). Surprisingly, Papi agreed. Thus began Victor's football career. -
Reunion
One day after getting off the bus from practice, Victor spotted a woman across the street with a stroller. He couldn't help but be reminded of Mami. After the woman waved at him, he realized it was in fact Mami. They talked for a while and Victor got to meet his baby sister, Carmen. Sadly Victor had to go home to not raise suspicion. Soon after, Papi was served with divorce papers. After the divorce, Mami only got one visitation day a month and the other 4 children had to stay with Papi. -
The final straw pt. 1
Victor's final night in his father's house was very strange. It all started with Papi being upset over the toilet seat being left up. He began interrogating all of the children and Victor could tell by the frightened look on Ed's face that he had done it. Knowing what Papi would do to Ed if he found out, Victor took the blame for the accident. However, Victor did not confess this calmly, instead he used profanity while talking to his father. This ended in a fist fight between Victor and Papi. -
The final straw pt 2.
Victor ended up winning this fight as he was now taller and larger than Papi himself. Both men returned to their rooms and cried. Before Victor could even realize what was happening, Papi threw a knife at Victor which landed on the wall, right next to Victor's head. Papi began yelling at Victor, screaming, for Victor to kill him. Despite his hatred for his father, Victor could not bring himself to do it and began to cry. After Papi left, Victor decided that night that he had to leave. -
Cemetery
The night that Victor escaped, he spent the night in a cemetery. The next day, a kid from school found him. This kid told him that everyone was looking for him including the cops. The kid then took Victor to his house. Soon after Victor would move into Mami's home. -
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Rescue
this marks when victor was finally able to leave the war zone and live without the overwhelming presence of his father. It would take a long time for Victor to heal from his childhood, but getting out was the first step. -
The Echevarrias
At the end of his sophomore year, Victor ran out of foster homes to stay with. That was when Rocky( Steven) Echevarria volunteered to let Victor stay at his house. What was supposed to be a short stay, resulted in Victor finding his second family whose house he would stay at during summers at College. Victor grew so close with these people that he called Lillian "Mom" and he called Rocky and Ernie his brothers.
The Echevarrias:
Lillian(mother)
Bebo(Father)
Ernie, Rocky(sons) -
Foster families
Victor realized that if anyone found out where he was living(with Mami) he would have to transfer schools as her home was out of range. This meant Victor would have to quit football and baseball. After talking with school faculty they reached an arrangement: They would reach out to families of students and Victor would live as a sort of "Foster kid" during the school year. It was through this program that Victor met the people that would become his second family. -
Victors Day in Court
After his night in the cemetery, Victor met a kid from his school whose father just so happened to be a lawyer. A few days later, Victor was in court ready to be freed of his father. Papi walked in putting on his best "sane and caring father" act. Thankfully, the judge did not fall for Papi's charm and declared "If you get within a hundred yards of Victor, I'll have you arrested and thrown in jail."(Rivas 207). This was the beginning of the rest of Victors life -
Kim
Kim was Victors girlfriend through high school and well into college. Victor says that she helped to show him what love was, that she was patient, she put up with his difficult past and helped him to learn to accept affection and to give it. Unfortunately, due to infidelity on both sides, Victor and Kim would break up in his junior year of college. -
Gangs
While in high school, Victor got involved with a gang. The gang he joined did not use weapons, only fist fights. It wasn't until a fight broke out and someone pulled out a gun that Victor officially resigned from the gang. However, Victor was now a target for other gangs. On the night of his graduation ceremony a rival gang came looking for Victor. After this incident, Victor called FSU and decided to just go to Tallahassee early before the men could find him. -
FSU
Through his football skills, Victor was able to get a full scholarship to FSU. Victor would play for the Seminole Seekers during his time at college. These men would become yet another family that Victor could rely on. -
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The Madcuban
"The Madcuban" is an endearing nickname given to Victor by his friends in football. Victor Rivas would go on to play college and even a little bit of NFL football. -
Injuries
During a scrimmage at practice, Victor got hit in the head pretty hard. Soon after getting back up he got into a fight with another player and passed out. Later in the hospital Victor was told that he "had suffered a concussion during the initial play and compounded it on the next play"(Rivers 259). This is not the only head injury he would have during his football career. Victor was so prone to concussions that he was given a special helmet to prevent further damage. -
Close call
Victors first coach at FSU didn't like him very much period coach Mac disliked him so much that he got Victor temporarily kicked off the team. Mac had told the head coach that Victor had hit him. Fortunately coach Mac was soon fired and by the next season Victor was back on the team. -
Academics
While studying at FSU Victor pursued a degree in criminology. After pursuing a career in football and even acting, Victor would go on to become the spokesperson for the national network to end domestic violence. -
The Airforce
After college Victor decided to attempt a career in the military. Victor decided to call his old coach to get a letter of recommendation. Victor states that " in August of 1977, not long after graduation, I called to ask for a favor and he said yes before I even told him what it was"(Rivers 293). However, while waiting for a call from the Air force, the call Victor received was from the Miami Dolphins instead. -
Miami Dolphins
After college, Victor had thought he would never play football again. Unfortunately, taking this opportunity cost Victor his relationship with the woman he thought he was going to marry. She left him "because of 'stupid' football,' when she thought she had wanted to marry ' an officer and a gentleman'"(Rivas 303). Sadly, Victor could have no permanent success with the Miami dolphins even after returning to their training program twice. -
The last time
The last time Victor would ever see his father in person was at his grandfather's funeral. Despite bragging to family members about how Victor was a "big college football star" Papi had Ed tell Victor to stay away from him. This highly upset Victor, "It felt like I had just been slugged in the stomach"(Rivers 296). Victor immediately left the funeral. -
The Madcuban retires
After his time with the Dolphins, the coach had offered to recommend Victor to other NFL teams. Instead, Victor thought of the time when he thought he had broken his neck and paralyzed himself during a game. He ultimately decided that it was better not to tempt fate and move on from his football career. It was then that the Madcuban decided to take on Hollywood. -
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Hollywood
After his football career. Victor would move to Hollywood with his brother Steven(Rocky) in an attempt to start an acting career -
Papi passes away
By this point, all of the Rivas sons had moved out. Tony, Victor, and Ed had all escaped the war zone. Now, apart from Papi's new wife and her kid, the only one left was Barbie. On February 21st, Barbie came home to find a note that read "Barbie, don't wake me up. Have Mecca do it. Dad."(Rivas 317). While Barbie was at school, Anthony Rivas Sr. taken his double-barreled shot gun, went into the closet, and shot himself in the chest. -
Reactions
Surprisingly, Tony was upset by his fathers death and even wanted a memorial. Barbie had faced enough of abuse on her own that, even though she knew what Papi had done when she got home, she did nothing but eat ice cream and obey the note. Victor describes how even though he tried, he couldn't bring himself to cry over his fathers death. That was when his brother Steven(Rocky) told him "You have no more tears left. He beat them out of you"(Rivers 319). -
Papi's Last Words to Victor in a Letter to Tony
"Tell Victor I love him and I just wasn't equipped or threw away my fatherly equipment somewhere, but I know he loved me and the feeling is mutual over here, please forgive our differences and problems, I can't rewrite history but I wish I could wash and rinse it, like we do our clothes and freshen them up a bit. Give my deepest love to him, he was always #1 with me"(Rivers 320) -
Rivas to Rivers
The sad part about Victor changing his name, was that it wan't because of his father. Instead it was to escape "the many stereotypical roles being written for minorities,"(Rivers 333). Victor changed his last name in an attempt to get cast in better roles. Victor would eventually be on screen in movies such as:"Blood In Blood Out", "The Mask of Zorro", and more. He even ventured into animation through voice acting for the character Hro Talak in "Justice League: Starcrossed the Movie". -
Family
In 1987 Victor reached a very low point in his life. He married a woman he barely knew who soon left him, fell into heavy drugs and drinking, and became severely depressed. However, in December of that year, Ed and Tony brought Victor home. They surrounded him with love and gave him people to rely on. One evening, Tony and Victor had a deep conversation about their childhood that ended in mutual forgiveness for the actions both of them took in order to survive. -
Sprits
Mami, Tony, Carmen, and Victor have all reported feeling, seeing, hearing or even smelling Papi's presence. They all felt as if Papi was sticking around. Unable to move on without receiving forgiveness from his victims. After facing the ghost of his father, Victor was able to get back on his feet and regain his strength. -
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Repatriation
This marks the final major chapter for Victor. -
Mim
Through Improv events and other acting related occasions, Victor met Mim (Miriam). The woman that would be the love of his life and the mother of his child. Mim was a writer and actress with a theater major. Being with Mim inspired Victor to heal from his remaining traumas. On April 6, 1991, Victor and Mim were married. -
Eli
After four miscarriages, the couple was finally able to have a successful pregnancy. Finally on July 27th 1994, Elias Kennedy Rivas was born. "I held him against my body, wanting him to feel the unconditional love that I would always have for him. I wanted him to feel my strong body and know that it would always protect him and never hurt him."(Rivers 358). -
The End
Victor Rivas Rivers is no longer the enraged and helpless little boy he once was. He and his family no longer suffer the torment of Anthony Rivas Sr. He is a happy man with a loving family and successful career in many different fields. Victor is now a Spokesperson for the National Network to End Domestic Violence. Victor is proof that no matter how broken and damaged a person is, as long as there are those willing to give them a chance, recovery is possible.