Life In Havana

Havana USA by María Cristina García is a book about the very first groups of Cuban immigrants to come to the United States after the Cuban Revolution. The book also discusses the political, cultural, and intelligence aspect of the Cuban people in Southern Florida. Havana is split up into two different sections - this helps separate different events that occurred.

Patrick Symmes is a journalist whose work focuses on Latin America, particularly Cuba. He has published several books, is a regular contributor to Newsweek, and has also published articles in many occasions. Thirty Days as a Cuban was written in October 2010 as Symmes experienced life in Havana. Symmes explains how during his time living in Cuba, the degree of socio/economic inequality was relatively low. While some people were making more than others, the vast majority of Cubans were significantly poor and suffered from starvation in a daily basis. He informs the readers about the way citizens live under a dictatorship government that is literally killing them due to its arbitrary laws and unorganized economic system. The tone of this reading is informative, concise and clear. Furthermore, the author writing style helps to better understand how the dictatorship imposed in Cuba is affecting every citizen and not just a certain group. The way it’s just destroying people’s dreams and hopes of having a better future to offer to those future generations.

Little Havana is one of Miami's most picturesque and beloved neighborhoods. It has some of the oldest and most historic buildings in Miami. Ever since the Cuban immigration started in the 60s the neighborhood became the home of many Cuban families, and later it was home as well for residents from Central y South America helping them to shape and reinforce the strong and proud Hispanic identity of the area. Walking by Calle 8 (8th street, the area's main drag) you always find either, around Domino Park or at El Exquisito or at El Pub restaurants or at any other business between SW 12th Ave and SW 17th Ave, people who by their charming personality or by their clothing or by their conversations always proudly display elements of their homeland,

The common cuban-american tradition of diners, lingering for hours followed by nostalgic storytelling of life back in cuba, have always intrigued me. Having never traveled to cuba,

The readings for this week consisted of the second half of Conceiving Cuba by Elise Andaya (2014). This half of the book focused on abortion, gendered work and surviving through migration (Andaya, 2014). Overall, Andaya (2014) focuses less on reproductive health and women than one would expect, and instead provides more of a critique of the shortcomings of the socialist revolution in Cuba. These critiques get in the way of Andaya’s (2014) narrative and ultimately detract from the discussion of reproductive health in Cuba.

One Marielito remarked on his venture to the United States, “Well, if I’m looking back 30 years ago, the decision of just leaving the country, getting to the embassy, I think it’s that it was a blessing of having the opportunity to leave the country, and especially to come here directly to the US. We didn’t have no hopes to come here. And I think that I have a wonderful family, many opportunities throughout my life.” The American Promise, in the ideal sense became a tangible and practical element within society for exiles, as it made clear the goals and aspirations of the exile community. Exiles seem to share similar sentiments in not wanting to return to Cuba, amidst the history of suppression, oppression, and hardships. “I’m super grateful to this country. I’m grateful to everything. I mean, this is my life. There’s no way I’d go back. Even if anybody would tell me, here, you got your house back in Cuba, I would never go back.” This sentiment summarizes and represents the mindsets of many exiles, at their time of expedition to America, and

As a young child, I remember living in New York during the latter part of the

The Communist Revolution of Cuba didn’t just impact the working class, but rather also affected the youth living in Cuba as well. Many children fought in the brigades to avoid capital punishment. One such account tells the story of Jose Agustin, who wrote an autobiography of his experiences in the brigades titled “Diario de brigadista, Cuba 1961”. It was in this book that Jose talked about his daily

Brittmarie Janson Perez, author of Political Facets of Salsa, writes, “Late at night, in a discotheque in a Latin American country whose political system is dominated by the military and is not particularly known for its respect for human rights, a crowd is dancing salsa, a generic term covering Caribbean dance music” (149). This has been and continues to be a very commonly accurate depiction of many Latin American countries. Since Cuba was founded in October 1492, its government and politics has been characterized by brutality, corruption and instability. Nonetheless, involvement from foreign nations and its deeply engrained Spanish roots has without a doubt had a significant impact on the transformation of what Cuba is today. In this paper, I will explore the pros and cons of the 1959 Cuban Revolution through the examination of the historical context of politics and how it impacted the social atmosphere.

There are only five countries left in this world that still call themselves communists stated by (PRI,2013). Everyone knows those five countries as, China, Dominican Republic, Korea, Vietnam, and of course Cuba. Cuba is home to 11.2 million citizens whom live a very different life than us who populate the united states (PRI,2013). During the year of 1925 the socialist party was founded forming the Communist party. Cubans government has survived over 50 years of Communism (BBC,2017).

The United States, one of the richest countries in the world, makes its technology the latest in its class; therefore, incomparable to Cuba’s, which in contrast is considered a third world country. In Cuba, people rarely have cellular devices, facsimile, cable televisions, water heaters, and many other technological advances that the U.S.A. has had available for the past 30 years or so. The majority of the American population owns a cellular devices, and uses it as one of the primary methods of communication, while Cubans are lucky if they have one cellular device per family. Instead, Cubans are forced to communicate with others by going to their homes, hoping that they are there to relay a

Generations upon generations of people have been thriving in Spanish speaking countries. Cuba is no different, through traditional clothing and special holidays they always are in tune with the past. With flamboyant traditional attire, that rivals the suns bright color and Spring flowers, coupled with fun to watch free flowing up beat music like Guaguancó or Pachanga, the Cuban culture is very exciting. In order to start to describe my family ties with Cuba, I will use an analogy: With every spin of a vibrant dress it seems as if the hands of time slowly turn back time. As the clock goes back so does my family history. In the early 1920's my great grandmother and her family made the trip from Spain to Cuba. Ever since then my family has had bearings

As Cubans began to enter different sects of the labor market, other than entry-level jobs, the locals complained that Cubans were stealing jobs and opportunities from them, the American people (Garcia, 20). After the “freedom flights” started, Miamians were even more displeased at the policies – disregarding that many of the Cubans would only stay temporarily in Miami and would later be resettled in other parts other parts of the country (Levine & Asis, 87). In all, some groups of locals were more welcoming and others were more resentful at the influx of Cuban immigrants.

In the 1950’s, tourists visited the island of Cuba for its warm beaches, culture and Spanish colonial architecture. But underneath the surface, was a revolution ready to burst through the Cuban people they just needed the right person to lead them. Cuba at this time was run by a Political Dictator named Fulgencio Batista.

Cuba is a very diverse country, but it is very poverty-stricken and is still decades