About Camilo
Camilo, a Nicaraguan and Costa Rican citizen, was born in August of 1975. He lived between Nicaragua and Costa Rica until 1994 when he, his mother, and his brother moved to the USA.
At a very early age Camilo started to shape and enforce his moral and religious principles through the teachings of his parents and the Catholic schools that he attended. Both his parents were strongly committed to the Sandinista Revolution that developed to overthrow the Somcista dictatorship who was imposed by the American Administration in 1934, after the assassination of General Augusto Cesar Sandino, who fought against the American invasion and its local allies.
While Camilo lived in Nicaragua he studied in the Roman Catholic High School Colegio Centro America administered by Jesuits. Later on, he and his mother and brother moved back to Costa Rica where he attended Colegio Calasanz, another Roman Catholic school. In 1994 Camilo and his family moved to the United States.
Once in this country, Camilo went to school during the night to finish his high school education. In 1995 he was working full time and earning minimum wage at a Burger King restaurant in Miami to pay for his college education.
That year, the government turned down his request for financial aid arguing that he was making enough money to pay for his education. It is during this same year when an army recruiting team approached him and presented to him the ideal package that the Army presents to future soldiers.
At age 19 Camilo joined the Armed Forces. According to Camilo: "I believe most young people who join the military do so for reasons other than war. I know I joined because I thought that doing so would bring me in touch with people all over the United States and maybe even the world. I was also seduced by the promise of a free college education, which later turned out to be not so free."
Camilo served as an infantryman from 1995 until 1998 then continued his contract as a reservist in the Florida National Guard. This contract was to end in May 2003. Despite the initial offers made to him by the army recruiting team, Camilo worked from 1998 until 2001 as a Security Guard to pay for the cost of his college studies. In December 2002 Camilo was enrolled in the University of Miami and was one semester away from finishing his BA in Psychology.
Showing clear signs of his concern for human related issues, Camilo worked as a volunteer for Food for life, an agency that provides meals and groceries to the AIDS and homeless communities of Miami. He also volunteered as a phone adviser, providing counseling and information to people in distress due to social and psychological problems. He was a Volunteer Research Associate in the Department of Psychology of the University of Miami and conducted psychological research within the Hispanic community of South Florida. He is a vegetarian and the proud father of a 4-year-old girl named Samantha.