Toward a Transnationalism of the Middle

Abstract

It is eight o'clock in the evening on September 8, 2001, the feast day of Cuba's patron saint, Nuestra Sefiora de la Caridad (Our Lady of Charity). In her national shrine in the eastern Cuban town of El Cobre, thousands of pilgrims file past rum-sweetened revelers into the teeming, sultry sanctuary where the petite, gold-caped statuette of the virgin attends to their petitions throughout the night. Many come to ask her assistance to get a visa to the United States or safe passage for a family member embarking illegally on a raft bound for Miami. Others come to thank her for providing help-to fulfill a promise made to her earlier. They come despite the difficulty of finding transportation and food. At exactly the same hour, thousands of Cuban Americans have flocked to the giant American Airlines arena in Miami. The sports center has been transformed into a temporary sanctuary complete with pulpit and communion table and rows of folding chairs serving as pews. To the right is a huge display of yellow flowers surrounding another Caridad statuette. A Cuban exile