His father had arrived with only $20 worth of money, yet managed to start his own clothing store in the streets of Cuba and Spain.
As he was Jewish, Benes had to study Hebrew Culture and Yiddish, and joined the Hashomer Hatzair, which influenced his sense of morality and human rights.
Bernardo Benes would, as a college student, at first joined the University of Maryland, but left because he found the facilities unsatisfactory.
Dr. Benes graduated as an attorney and CPA from the University of Havana, and later became a member of the law firm “Bufete Zaydin”.
Bernardo Benes and his family fled to Miami in 1960, to start a new life in a place that would become the epicenter of Latin America.
Along with that, he co-founded the Cuban Hebrew Congregation on Miami Beach in 1961, the United Way International in his community(Vice-President for the Miami-Dade County from 1965-1977).
From 1962–1974, he was Vice-President of the Washington Federal Savings and Loan Association, housing consultant to USAID, IDB (Interamerican Development Bank), and the United Nations.
He was leaning towards exile militancy at the start of his Miami career, having funded anti-Castro missions like the one in which Tony Cuesta was captured.
He looked at this event as telling him that he could accomplish nothing if he kept this type of more aggressive path, which relied too much on support from the government, when the Cuban exiles should take it into their own hands.
This would be Bernardo Benes’ turning point, and human rights (freeing the political prisoners and reuniting exiled families) would become his goal.
Benes was on vacation with his family in Panama after being invited by the future Vice President Ricardo de la Espriella, his old friend.
He was eating breakfast when one of his old friends, Alberto Pons, told him some Cubans wanted to meet Bernardo Benes.
They turned out to be top officials of Castro's inner circle, who wanted to use Benes as a bridge to reach diplomatic relations.
The negotiations between the Cuban officials and Bernardo Benes happened in Panama, Nassau, Mexico, Jamaica, Washington D.C., and New York, totaling up to around 75 meetings.
In these conversations, Bernardo Benes and Charles Dascal negotiated for the freedom of the political prisoners, family reunification, and more peaceful relations between the United States and Cuba.
Bernardo Benes also had around 14 personal meetings with Fidel Castro, more than 150 hours total, continuing with discussions about human rights.
But his work lives on as Obama restored diplomatic relations during his terms in office, though the embargo on Cuba still remains.