Cuban Migration

From April 15 to October 31 in 1980, over 125,000 Cuban migrants arrived in the United States. Family members from America ferried relatives and institutionalized Cubans from the Cuban port of Mariel, in what was soon coined the Mariel Boatlift. Mirta Ojito, one of these ‘Marielitos’, as they soon were termed, grew up to write “Finding Mañana: A Memoir of a Cuban Exodus”. In this text, the author provides a historic account of events leading up to the Mariel Boatlift, narratives from important figures surrounding the event, and a personal narrative describing the struggle of her family to gain freedom from the socialist dictatorship of Fidel Castro. Throughout the story of the years preceding the boatlift and the influence that living in Cuba held on her life, Ojito describes the positive and negative elements of the both the political climate and personal life on the communist island which led to her eventual emigration to the United States.

Thirty-seven years to the date April 20th, 2017, Fidel Castro enacted the policy of the Mariel boatlift, in which he’d allow Cubans seeking to emigrate to the United States to do so by departing at Mariel. This number would eventually eclipse 125,000 people seeking asylum and refuge from Cuba, and the regime in which at one point they felt represented or directly opposed their own viewpoints. The first wave of Cuban exiles being the extremely wealthy, in direct opposition to Fidel Castro’s regime for a race-less society, and a single-class economy, government, and social order. The ultimatum being set at you’re with the revolution or you’re not, this encouraged former supporters of the now ousted Batista, to seek refuge in the United States.

The study of race relations in contemporary Cuba indelibly requires an understanding of the dynamic history of race relations in this ethnically pervasive island of the Caribbean. Cuban society, due to its historical antecedents of European colonialism and American imperialism, has traditionally experienced anguished and even tumultuous race relations. Racial disharmony has plagued Cuban society ever since the advent of the Colonial institution of the plantation system. Thus, in order to acquire some understanding of Cuba’s dynamic race relations one must study and investigate the evolution of racial tensions and the quintessential

Even though Cuba is a little under 100 miles away from the United States, the relationship between the two countries has created an atmosphere full of tension and perpetual mistrust. When Fidel Castro decided to align Cuba with the U.S.S.R. and become a communist country, the United States of America was stunned and highly insulted. Because of their relationship, both countries have played a back and forth game of trying to outdo the other. This game and state of affairs in Cuba has created a large influx of Cuban immigrants looking for better opportunities and trying to escape poverty and persecution. This paper will be focusing on Cuban immigrants and examining different Cuban immigration laws, which allowed them to easily become United States citizens, including; the Cuban Adjustment Act, The Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1976 and the Wet Foot, Dry Foot Policy. It will also discuss whether the Cuban immigration laws are unfair to other foreign immigrants and whether the laws are relevant today. Finally, we will be considering the future and try to predict how the laws will change with the changing diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States and the imminent removal of the Embargo Act.

Descriptive representation may not have a positive and significant impact on a politician’s agenda. This case study is on the Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio. He was born on May 28, 1971 in Miami, Florida. His parents were born in Cuba, which makes Senator Rubio a Cuban American. He makes a great case study to reflect on the opposite idea of descriptive representation in the political system. It is essential to talk about his parents’ history with immigration in order to understand why he does not represents Latinos, especially Cuban-Americans or other minority groups that he should be representing. His parents immigrated from Cuba to the United States in 1956 before the rise of Fidel Castro, which was

Batista knew that he wasn’t going to win the elections the fair way, so he staged a coup on March 10tth, 1952 which removed President Carlos Prio Socarras from power and declared Batista as ‘president’. The 1952 coup was a consolidation of Batista’s power as dictator in Cuba. This coup was backed by military forces, which gave the message to the Cuban people that Batista was no man to mess with. Batista did however receive feedback from Fidel Castro who was angry at what he did, “If Batista grabbed power by force, he must be thrown out by force” he said. Fidel Castro, soon emerges as the leader of the Cuban Revolution. His leadership in the revolution will be later discussed. There was little to no resistance to Batista’s coup because no one dared to confront the country’s new declared dictator. This is where one should ask the question as to why Batista went from being a president to a dictator? Why did Batista began a dictatorial regime in his once beloved

Cuban Americans are also considered native born Americans with Cuban parents or Cuban-born persons who were raised and educated in US. Cuban Americans form the third-largest Hispanic group in the United States and also the largest group of Hispanics of European ancestry as a percentage within the group in the US. Many communities throughout the United States have significant Cuban American populations. However Miami, Florida, with a Cuban population of 837,985 in its environs, stands out as the most prominent Cuban American community, in part because of its proximity to Cuba. It is followed by the Tampa Bay Area, North Jersey, particularly Union City and West New York. With a population of 141,250, the New York metropolitan area is the largest Cuban community outside of Florida. Cuban Americans have been very successful in establishing

The assimilation of Cuban Americans has come rather slowly due to the discrimination that this group has faced. Like most other immigrating groups, Cubans have seen themselves rejected and discriminated by the dominant group, making them embrace their own culture and straying away from the dominant expectations for several years. In order to maintain their culture, and as an effort to reject discrimination, Cuban Americans have opened various organizations and enclaves that help promote their heritage. The stratification between Cubans and white Americans is quite high in places like Florida. In fact, affluent Anglos are usually placed in elite private schools that are populated by little to none Latinos. Due to the fact that many Cuban Americans consider themselves to be exiles, their assimilation has come rather slowly. According to Gordon’s assimilation theory, cultural and identification assimilation have come at a slow pace. To elaborate, Cuban American immigrants have faced much discrimination and stereotyping that has led them to stay away from assimilating to the dominant culture. In fact, their cultural patterns have been kept sturdy by promoting their heritage in organizations, clubs and enclaves. With new U.S. born generations, there can be a sense of cultural assimilation, but for the most part, Cuban Americans have not completely assimilated culturally. In the same sense, identification assimilation has not come hastily. As mentioned, Cuban

While Felgenico Batista was running Cuba many American companies grew rich off of Cuban resources while the Cuban people remained poor. An American mobster named Meyer Lansky came to Cuba to open a hotel. The mobster gave Batista 10% of the profits of the hotel and casino, so Batista became wealthy off of that. Batista became very wealthy off of American business and also organized crime. Meyer Lansky also turned Havana into a drug port. Batista did very little to help the Cuban citizens. While running Cuba Batista did not offer the people neither health care nor education. So many Cubans lived in poverty. When they became ill they wouldn’t be able to go to a doctor because they wouldn’t be able to afford it. When Batista took over the country in

It has long been a pattern in the United States that immigrants will assimilate into the culture when they live close to white neighborhoods. Latin American immigrants move throughout the country in different ways. Cubans are an anomaly due to the fact that they live very separated from White Americans even when they have been here for generations (Chaves et al, 2005: 511). Even though they are assimilated into American culture, Cubans still prefer to live in their own communities. This

There have been several regions of United States that have gone through cultural changes throughout time. The indigenous people on the East coast went through a cultural change when the pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. The people that lived in the North went through a cultural change when the French entered by the St. Lawrence River bringing their Roman Catholicism religion. The people that were living in what is now Alaska went through cultural change when the Russians entered the area with their new language and orthodox religion. More recently, the people of Miami have gone through cultural changes since the Cubans have entered Southern Florida. To understand the migration of Cubans to Southern

Miami is well known as a city where a lot of immigrants migrate to and continuously grow in numbers. The increase in the Hispanic population is usually due to family ties that influence other members to relocate to the city. Persuasion of a better life and opportunity for their children is what influenced my parents to move to Miami in the mid 1980’s. According to my parents the diversity in languages and cultural background made it

Today the United States is a home to a huge number of Hispanics. Almost all Latin American migrants who come to the United States are looking for a better life. People leave Latin America because life there is very hard. Poverty, political instability and financial crises often make Latin American life more challenging than in the U.S., a wealthy country with lots of job opportunities.

Prior to the 1959 Cuban revolution, Cuban society was defined by social, economic and political unrest. Cuba’s dependence of the slave trade between the 1500s and 1886 saw a rising fear of slave revolts. Whilst the sugar industry provided moments of economic stability throughout the late 1700s and early 1800s, the modernisation of sugar plantations during the 19th century caused economic instability and a fluctuating commodity value, instigating unrest. This allowed for an investment opportunity for the United States, that transformed Cuba into a business, which impelled unrest amongst Cuban’s. The return of the Batista regime in 1952, characterised by political corruption and oppression provoked a rise of resistance amongst Cuban society, activating unrest throughout the island.

Cuba was one of the last Latin American nations to gain independence. The island won its independence from Spain in 1898, but was taken over by the United States after its victory in the Spanish-American War. In 1902, Cuba won its independence from the United States. In 1940, Batista was elected president but was voted out of office in 1944. From 1944 until 1952, the country was ruled by civilian presidents who had the support of political parties. In 1952, Batista orchestrated a coup after being out of office for eight years and presided over a seven-year military dictatorship. Batista’s anti-communism won him the support of the United States, but his administration was extremely corrupt and his closeness with the United States angered many Cubans. In addition, under Batista