Jairo Alvarez Botero

Born: Colombia

Here: 24 years in Baton Rouge

Occupation: Homebuilder, owner, Alvarez Construction Co. Inc.

Why he came: To provide better education for his children, to escape the unruly atmosphere created by Pablo Escobar’s Medellín cartel, and to leave the country before his oldest son, Carlos, became eligible for the Colombian draft at age 16.

Jairo Alvarez’s first language lesson in America came at his own expense.

Recently emigrated from Columbia, he felt grateful when his co-workers at the Albany Medical Center taught him his first English words. They would tell him exactly what to say and to whom to say it. But when his “teachers” erupted in laughter at the angry responses his greetings prompted, Alvarez realized he’d been speaking obscenities.

Thirty years later, after learning he had prostate cancer, Alvarez stood in front of a mirror and recalled those words he’d been duped into repeating to strangers. A flood of expletives poured out with pent-up fury as he cursed his illness.

“You motherf*****! You are in the wrong body, and I’m gonna kick your ass!” he shouted. If cancer had a throat, his knuckles would have been white choking the life out of it.

Alvarez, 70, has drawn on such ferocious resolve to beat cancer, not to mention build a prosperous American dream for his family. In his office at Alvarez Construction Co., the 70-year-old homebuilder cites his faith in God, and even apologizes for retelling the story of his humiliating language lesson. “Whatever happens to you in life is for your good,” he says. “It may take 30 years to realize it, but it is.”

Maps of Forest Creek, Magnolia Pointe and Stumberg Place developments line one wall of the office like flags marking the boundaries of the small real estate empire he has carved out in the I-12 corridor. Above these hang a few dozen cycling medals. The latest is from a regional race that had no senior division. Alvarez, a former champion in Colombia who sold a calf to buy his first bike, entered in the 30s age category and finished third.

Like one of his heroes Lance Armstrong, the longtime Baton Rouge resident now lives cancer-free. In 2007 he released his memoirs, No Such Thing As Impossible: From Adversity to Triumph, and this year he will complete a Spanish translation.

Alvarez grew up on a modest potato farm near rural Sonson, Colombia. No Such Thing details how he overcame addictions to prescription pills and alcohol, and his hard-fought journey to success in America.

With more than 100 houses now under construction, Alvarez employs 200 full-time workers. Only 10 are immigrants, but through sub-contracted carpenters and roofers he has witnessed the influx of Hispanic workers in Baton Rouge. Alvarez has developed a strong pride in his new country, and he worries about what will happen to society and the economy when illegals hit retirement age and need medical care. “There’ll be millions living under bridges and on park benches,” he muses.

Alvarez says he would like to be involved in an effective organization to help local Hispanic businesses if one were to develop.

“It’s incredible the influence of the Spanish community,” he says. “We are all from such different cultures, though you don’t see a lot of unity among all of us. Even with the thousands of Spanish-speaking people in Baton Rouge there is no organization, newspaper or radio station. But I think it is coming.”

Click here for information on Alvarez’s autobiography.