Cuban Immigrants Research Articles

Bridging the Divide: Strategic Measures to Enhance US-Cuba Relations in 21st Century

The US-Cuban relations have been historically bitter due to various factors, including the US's reluctance to engage with Cuba and its communist ideology. During the Cold War, the US faced difficulties due to Cuba's inclination towards the USSR, leading to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. The US has always had concerns about Cuba and its ideology, which have been reflected in policies and statements. The Obama administration attempted to take positive steps towards Cuba, but the Trade Embargo imposed by the USA in the 1960s still heavily affected the relations. By the 21st century, these issues must be resolved to eradicate security and economic concerns from the region for its prosperity. The Reagan administration reversed direction and focused on controlling Cuban immigration to the US, granting up to 20,000 immigrant visas annually. Cuba has always impacted the security of the United States, as the country has been a significant threat since 1959 when the US and USSR faced nuclear war. The US has attempted to influence many countries in the region, but Cuba has been difficult to crack. Despite imposing embargoes, the US has failed to bring democratic norms to Cuba. As Cubans have a major stake in US politics, the US capitalizes on their influence. The worsening law and order situation in Cuba has led to mass migration to the USA, with the US trying to compensate Cuban immigrants to undermine their government policies. The 21st-century fluctuations in American policy for Cuba continue to pose Cuba as a security threat to the US. This article aims at highlighting issues like Migration, Cuban Ideology, US Embargo, and Terrorism which remain to be at core of the US-Cuban relations. These issues must be addressed in order to put US-Cuban relations back on track.

“We Are Happy Here”: Creating Communist Cuba and the Mariel Crisis of 1980

Abstract At a time when Cuban immigrants are seeking political asylum at historically unprecedented rates, most press and scholarly accounts consistently mirror earlier portrayals of Cubans’ mass exodus from the island in one key aspect: they ascribe to refugees a primarily economic reason for their decision to leave and offer little discussion of political factors. To illuminate the need for such analysis, this article examines the Mariel Boatlift of 1980, when approximately 125,000 Cubans, most of them thirty years old or younger, left Cuba. No other exodus of Cubans was more demonized than the Mariel, both by Cuba’s supporters and leadership and by exile opponents of the communist state. Exploring how the intensification of ideological criteria for inclusion in the Cuban Revolution undermined the quality of Cubans’ liberation under socialism prior to Mariel, this article explores state policies and the deep politicization of everyday life and identity. Key political factors explain many young people’s alienation and the degree to which the Cuban state sanctioned and directed extreme measures of repression to discredit those who wanted to leave as lazy, sexually degenerate escoria (human trash).

Pigeons at the Bedside: Lucumí Negotiations around Ritual Space in the Hospital

ABSTRACT: In the latter half of the twentieth century, south Florida became a hub of Afro-Cuban religious practice. The influx of Cuban immigrants has influenced healthcare institutions in the area. This article explores how devotees of one Afro-Cuban religion, Lucumí, popularly known as Santería, create space within hospitals to conduct religious rituals that facilitate the healing of patients. It argues that the creation of space for hospital rituals is a counter-hegemonic practice that can be mapped onto the relationship that Lucumí historically had to the Catholic Church, one of being both seen and unseen within this hegemonic institution. Through an analysis of the "symbolic power" embedded in language usage to create unsanctioned ritual space in the hospital, I build on Pierre Bourdieu's work by that title. In examining three types of space—secret space, talking space, and familiarity space—this article highlights the counter-hegemonic practices used to heal Lucumí patients in south Florida.

Depiction of Machismo through Castillo Brothers in Oscar Hijuelos’ The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love

The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (1989) is a novel by Oscar Hijuelos, a Cuban-American writer. It talks about the lives of Cesar and Nestor Castillo, Cuban immigrants who live in America to pursue their dreams as musicians. The novel strongly connects to Latin American culture. The Castillo brothers are known for embracing their "Cubanness" as men. Men in Spanish-speaking countries are recognized for their masculine solid pride. Their strong masculine pride is often associated with an exaggeration of their masculinity. People often call it machismo. Machismo, derived from destructive aspects such as aggressiveness, womanizing, emotional withdrawal, and male chauvinism, is known for having harmful outcomes for men who embed it. Operating Hall's Theory of Representation and Kupers' concept of toxic masculinity, this research aims to show how the Castillo brothers represent machismo and reveal the ideology of Oscar Hijuelos' regarding machismo. This research is conducted as qualitative research, utilizing narratives and dialogues. The study found that Cesar's practice of machismo through the act of being a Latin lover affects his participation in alcoholism and resistance to professional help. Besides, Nestor's practice of machismo for being a "man with muscle" eventually leads him to depression, anxiety, and rejection of therapy. It is acknowledged their status as immigrants heighten their practices of machismo. Through his writing, the author expects to criticize machismo.

Examining External and Internal Acculturative Factors: Cuban-Born Women’s Experience of Well-Being in the U.S.

Objective: This study investigates the influence of acculturative stress on the mental well-being of Cuban-born women and Latina immigrants, emphasizing their distinctive experiences. Methods: Utilizing data from the National Latino Asian American Study (NLAAS), a comprehensive nationwide mental health investigation among Latino and Asian Americans, this study examined 264 Cuban women (average age: 58) who migrated to the United States and live in south Florida. The study employed Family Stress Management (FSM) framework and Bekteshi et al.’s Contextual Influence on Acculturative Stress (CIAS) framework to scrutinize the interplay of contextual factors and individual characteristics impacting adolescents’ psychological distress. Results: The findings revealed several noteworthy associations. Higher levels of church attendance, challenges in visiting family overseas, and perceived racial discrimination correlated with elevated stress levels. Furthermore, the age at which individuals immigrated was positively linked to increased stress (b = 0.18; p = 0.04), indicating that older Cuban immigrants experienced greater psychological distress upon their arrival in the United States. Additionally, higher levels of conflict between family and cultural values, as well as intensified religious beliefs, were associated with elevated distress levels. Conclusion: This study underscores the intricate interplay of diverse contextual factors in shaping the mental health and well-being of Cuban-born women. The insights derived from this research have implications for the development of tailored interventions and support systems, aiming to address the unique needs of this population.

The Impact of the Cuban Adjustment Act on Cuban Immigrants in the US

The Impact of the Cuban Adjustment Act on Cuban Immigrants in the US

IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCES AND CARE ARRANGEMENTS LATER IN LIFE: EVIDENCE FROM THE MARIEL BOATLIFT

Abstract The role of public policy in older immigrants’ use of and access to services has mainly been regarded with respect to its legal framework. However, the way public policies are framed and societies’ perceptions of immigrant groups can additionally influence immigrants’ experiences, with long-lasting effects on needs and services use later in life. Still, the importance of these mechanisms has rarely been analyzed. This study uses the Mariel boatlift in 1980 as a case study to assess the relationship between circumstances that surround an immigrants’ cohort and their care arrangement later in life. Cuban immigrants from the Mariel boatlift were perceived in a different way by the federal government and the general population than Cuban immigrants who arrived previously. Based on data from the American Community Survey (2008-2021), care arrangements of older Cubans who arrived in 1980, who are limited in daily activities, and who reside in the Miami area are compared to care arrangements of Cubans that immigrated before. Regression models are estimated and individual characteristics are accounted for. Compared to Cubans who arrived before 1980, Cubans of the Mariel boatlift are more likely to live in the community than in an institutional setting. However, among those living in the community, Cubans of the Mariel boatlift reveal a higher risk of living alone. The results suggest that Cubans of the Mariel boatlift are at higher risk for unmet needs. It is discussed how circumstances that surround immigrants’ cohort of arrival shape immigrants’ services needs and use.

Oración

Oración Emma Trelles (bio) At end a body a river a gesture of light Instead begin two lovers asleep in sheaths of cotton and belonging look now down the arrow of the street the frosted seathe true milk of it rare clouds veiling horizon oil rig taking more even more is not enough we will never stop I have always known this place the land insistent unfolding before we pulled from womb to shore before gulls bussed tables and trains rantheir mysteries before the polished heads of seals looked to the lamps that lure us into dark or screens fixed on mountains in their simple morning coatsnot edging piers or tiled roofs but filled with the peace of desolation I do not want to lose your mouth the breaths we takebetween blows open and wet how beautifully lonely each rock and weed animal spells the long tongues of aloes tasting night and drinking down the moon when you frame my face with your serious blue I might be ready when it comes ready as any minute or quick trip to judgementyour gaze a steady wing on sage bolt of vein inside my wrist still with me no matter how often I dream your grave we are all looking for water again is there not hope enough to scrape from the fading earth I see that promise in you a way of holding on your hands I will try to never forgetAfter when I take my last pause in a no-name terminal a city without eyes not even your song to guide me this flame we will not remember [End Page 125] I want to say might but we won’t particles to nebula we won’t know each other rush of cells a current it must be enough wishing you will be there just wishing [End Page 126] Emma Trelles Santa Barbara City College Emma Trelles Emma Trelles is Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara and the author of Tropicalia (University of Notre Dame Press). The daughter of Cuban immigrants, she has received fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, CantoMundo and the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs. She teaches at Santa Barbara City College and curates the Mission Poetry Series. Copyright © 2022 The Trustees of Indiana University

쿠바계 미국인의 귀향 내러티브에 나타난 인식의 충돌과 화해: A Little Something to Ease the Pain과 I Was Always Afraid를 중심으로

This paper is a comparative study of two plays A Little Something to Ease the Pain by Rene R, Alomá and We were Always Afraid by Leopold Hernández, which deal with “return narratives” of exile and diasporic experiences of Cuban Americans. It explores the motivation of 1.5 generation Cuban immigrants, who are called Cubabia, to return to Cuba, aspects of their reunion with homeland and confliction, and reconciliation between memories and reality they are expected to face. Specifically whether the returning homeland which have been displayed in the imaginary representation by two protagonists can be a realization of utopian zeal or dystopian recognition can be an important agenda for discussion, This study also captures commonness of return narratives in A Little Something to Ease the Pain and We were Always Afraid which display existential crisis from the conflicts between utopian and dystopian experience with dynamic intertextuality of home, homeland, and return. Delicate concern to the journey of protagonists who have struggled to preserve Cuban identity in the mist of opposite perspectives, exile and unification provides perspectives of the future of Cubania. The experience of 1.5 generation Cuban Americans displayed in these two plays is not only an indicator of solidarity which strengthens ethnic identity and commonness with Latinos but revolts against marginalisation of immigrants or diaspora.

Latinx Immigrants in the United States: A Comparative Analysis on the Venezuelan and Cuban Immigrants in Florida

Latinx immigrants in the U.S. are often analyzed through single case study methodology where each selected Latinx immigrant group in the U.S. analyzed through separate chapters of a book or a sub-section of an article. This study is prepared to compare the push factors, migration journeys and post-migration patterns of Cuban and Venezuelan immigrants in Florida by adopting Charles Tilly's Individualizing Comparison methodology. Since both of the Venezuelan and Cuban immigrants have been fleeing from left-wing home governments and choosing the same point of destination (Florida), there is a common misunderstanding that both of these immigrant groups have the same post-migration patterns. For this reason, levels of English proficiency, income, education and political party tendencies are compared throughout this study to show the differences and peculiarities of both immigrant groups in a comparative perspective. According to the findings of this study, the common assumptions about the two immigrants groups are wrong.

Exploring Differences in Diet Quality, Traditional Foods Consumed, and Acculturation among Mexican and Cuban Immigrants

Exploring Differences in Diet Quality, Traditional Foods Consumed, and Acculturation among Mexican and Cuban Immigrants

Cuban and Afro-Caribbean immigrants: an analysis of intermarriage and subsequent assimilation among second-generation Caribbean immigrants

ABSTRACT This paper uses the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study to examine the effects of race, class and gender on the intermarriage of Cuban and Afro-Caribbean second-generation immigrants in the United States. Results indicate that gender and racial identity are significantly related to intermarriage for this group of immigrants. Interestingly, the immigrants’ socioeconomic status and family’s social class have a very minimal impact on intermarriage. Using Cuban white, Cuban Hispanic and Caribbean black as racial categories, the study shows that Caribbean black men are the least likely group to intermarry, and Cuban white men are the most likely to intermarry. Cuban Hispanic men are less likely to intermarry compared to their Cuban white counterparts. Lastly, Cuban white women are the most likely to intermarrycompared to Cuban white males for this sample population. A structural explanation for these patterns posits that differences in the relative size of each racial group in marriage markets affect their chances for intermarriage. From an assimilation perspective, the literature also suggests that differences in social distance with whites influence the propensity for co-ethnic intermarriage.

International Population Study in Spain, Cuba, and the United States of Attitudes Toward Organ Donation Among the Cuban Population.

Cuban immigrants constitute an important group in both the United States and Spain, with different behaviors toward organ donation having been described among the different Latin American nationalities. We analyzed the attitude toward organ donation among the Cuban populations in Cuba, Spain, and Florida. The study population was Cuban immigrants over 15years of age residing in Cuba, Spain, and Florida, with samples randomly stratified by age and sex. A validated questionnaire on psychosocial aspects of organ donation (PCID-DTO Rios) was used. Census was used as the sampling base in all 3 countries; however, additionally, in Spain and the United States (Florida), we sought the support of immigration support associations to determine the Cuban population without legal documentation. The questionnaire was completed anonymously and self-administered. The completion rate of the study was 74% (4123/5574) among 424 surveyed in Spain, 1224 in Florida, and 2475 in Cuba. The attitude in favor of donating their own organs upon death was 60.6% of those surveyed in Spain, 37.6% in Florida, and 68.9% in Cuba, or 58% of the global sample. Multivariate analysis showed that country of residence was an independent factor associated with attitude toward organ donation (odds ratio,1.929). Other factors associated with attitude were sex, educational level, performance of prosocial activities, knowledge of the brain death concept, religion, the couple's opinion toward donation, fear of mutilation after donation, and attitude toward manipulation of the body after death. The attitude toward organ donation among Cubans in their country of origin and immigrants in Spain was similar, being significantly different from those who emigrate to Florida, where the attitude is much less favorable.

Gender Dissimilarities in Human Capital Transferability of Cuban Immigrants in the US: A Clustering Quantile Regression Coefficients Approach with Consideration of Implications for Sustainability

Female participation in the labor market has been increasing over time. Despite the fact that the level of education among women has also increased considerably, the wage gap has not narrowed to the same extent. This dichotomy presents an important challenge that the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals with respect to gender inequities must address. Hispanics constitute the largest minority group in the US, totaling 60.6 million people (18.5% of the total US population in 2020). Cubans make up the third largest group of Hispanic immigrants in the US, representing 5% of workers. This paper analyzes the conditional income distribution of Cuban immigrants in the US using the clustering of effects curves (CEC) technique in a quantile regression coefficients modeling (QRCM) framework to compare the transferability of human capital between women and men. The method uses a flexible quantile regression approach and hierarchical clustering to model the effect of covariates (such as years of education, English proficiency, US citizenship status, and age at time of migration) on hourly earnings. The main conclusion drawn from the QRCM estimations was that being a woman had the strongest negative impact on earnings and was associated with lower wages in all quantiles of the distribution. CEC analysis suggested that educational attainment was included in different clusters for the two groups, which may have indicated that education did not play the same role for men and women in income distribution.

Review: The Racial Politics of Division: Interethnic Struggles for Legitimacy in Multicultural Miami, by Monika Gosin

Review: <i>The Racial Politics of Division: Interethnic Struggles for Legitimacy in Multicultural Miami</i>, by Monika Gosin

"Exile Memoirs: Beyond the Confines of Obligated Memory" Memoirs Reviewed

"Exile Memoirs: Beyond the Confines of Obligated Memory" Memoirs Reviewed María de los Ángeles Torres Cecilia M. Fernández. Leaving Little Havana: A Memoir of Miami Cuban's Ghetto. Orlando, FL: Beating Winds Press, 2013. Translated to Spanish by Gonzalo Ravelo, 2015. José María de Lasa. My Story: Family, Cuba and Living the American Dream. Miami, FL: Ediciones Universal, 2018. Gerardo González. A Cuban Refugees Journey to the American Dream: The Power of Education. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2018. Dania Rosa Nasca. Lights Out: A Cuban Memoir of Betrayal and Survival. Dania Rosa Nasca, 2016. Luis Santeiro. Dancing with Dictators: A Family's Journey from Pre-Castro Cuba to Exile in the Turbulent Sixties—A Memoir. Luis Santeiro, 2017. Marisella Veiga. We Carry Our Homes with Us. Saint Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2016. Like all wars, the Cuban Revolution generated carefully constructed narratives of its history with heroes and villains starkly cast and storylines carefully scripted. Inversely, the opposition did the same. For the exile community, the revolution betrayed became a central theme, as did triumphs in exile. We became the golden exiles who thrived despite the loss of nation, family, property, and imagined futures. Our defiance included reproducing Cuba in the United States. And nostalgia was a way of not forgetting. But with this process came an official narrative that demanded unanimity in the renditions of past and present. Paul Ricoeur calls this obligated memory; what we are expected to remember is not necessarily what happened to us, but it is what we must remember. The reality was more complex, as were the human experiences lived through multiple histories, and some of these have found themselves into testimonials and memoirs. Some of the first cracks in the official narrative surfaced when young Cuban exiles started to return to the island, an act that in and of itself defied the official narrative of exile. With this movement came testimonies of life in the United States that for many of us, especially those raised outside the nestled confines of Cuban Miami, included ugly confrontations with racism and discrimination because we were Cubans. In Contra viento y marea, for instance, [End Page 301] Lourdes Casal and a group of editors from Areíto gathered personal testimonies from those returning to Cuba with the Antonio Maceo Brigade. The stories did not fit neatly into the narrative of the golden exile. Much later Ruth Behar and Juan Leon initiated a project to collect personal narratives of those who did return to Cuba, further constructing alternatives to the tropes of survival and success. Bridges to Cuba, their two-volume publication of personal narratives, poems, and stories established a plurality of experiences. By Heart/De Memoria: Cuban Women's Journeys in and out of Exile, which I edited, brings together women's personal narratives of encounters with the island from those of us in exile and with narratives from those on the island. By the 1990s, returning had also generated its own mythologies and acceptable renditions, and these essays complicated the narratives on both sides of the Florida Straits. All these projects have sought to build alternative communities through texts. Other memoirs sought to fill in the personal stories of immigration. Cuban immigration has been periodized by time and method of departure. The dramatic exodus of fourteen thousand unaccompanied minors in Operation Pedro Pan engendered its own deeply militarized memories that reflect the collective coping with the pain arising from the separation of parents and children. Pedro Pans become symbols of the origins of a community born of extreme sacrifice. The narrative called for presenting our experience as heroic, as we were saved from communism. Silence might have been expected about the pain or abuse encountered by the children. Still, memoirs like Carlos Erie's, Waiting for Snow to Fall in Havana, presented a more complex set of experiences, as did Flora Gonzalez's essay "House on Shifting Sand: in Bridges. Both the Cuban and the US government complicated the Mariel exodus by casting immigrants as criminals and unwanted escoria. But Mirta Ojito's Waiting for Mañana gave us the version of traveling through those hate-filled and racialized rhetorical waves...

Thank You for Reminding Me

Thank You for Reminding Me Emma Trelles (bio) Cecropia moth, how you slow-fold your summer kites awayFrom the bite of go back to where you come from. I come fromA city pretending to be an island, except for the parts whereNadie can eat speak live how they want. My stomach hurts again.The air is warm grass. A shadow cross of laughingGull moves over me and the park and I don't thinkOf resurrection but of fists at the door, breath heldAn invasion of cruelty in the usual uniforms.My pencil says you are magical. The oracleSays you chart flight with the bleakRays of the moon, a kind of compass so you knowHow to keep going. Thorax and legs threaded with the red ofA stout altar candle, or a rally of open mouths waitingFor you to land. En la luna hay paz y veneno. That is to sayPossibilities. La luna will swallow a punch or a prayer, whateverThe future she endures. La luna la luna la luna la lunaThe tongue glimmers with arrival, there is no better wayTo say it. [End Page 13] Emma Trelles Emma Trelles is the daughter of Cuban immigrants and the author of Tropicalia (University of Notre Dame Press, 2011), winner of the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize; she is writing a second book of poems, Courage and the Clock. Her work is anthologized in Verse Daily, Best American Poetry, and others. Recent poems appear or are forthcoming in Chiricú Journal, Terrain's "Letter to America" series, South Florida Poetry Journal, SWWIM, Zócalo Public Square, and Colorado Review. She is the poet laureate of Santa Barbara. Copyright © 2021 Middlebury College

Change Over Time in Linguistic Acculturation: A Comparison Between Cuban and Non-Cuban Hispanic Immigrants

While acculturation and its implications for mental health have received extensive attention in studies with older immigrant populations, change over time in acculturation less so. This paper examines change over a two-year period in levels of linguistic acculturation among Cuban (n = 186) and non-Cuban Hispanic (n = 116) immigrants living in Florida. Data came from the waves of the Survey of Older Floridian (SOF), conducted using a statewide sampling frame based on population densities, with a computer-assisted telephone interview strategy. Calls were initiated through random digit dialing, and a follow-up interview was added approximately two years later. Measures included six acculturation items, one dealing with the participant’s language preference for the interview itself and five items dealing with language ability and usage. Results indicated that non-Cuban Hispanics were significantly more acculturated than Cuban Hispanics, and that at least 75% of Wave 2 acculturation was accounted for by Wave 1 status. After controlling for initial levels of acculturation, those who at first interview reported more economic problems and those reporting fewer depressive symptoms were more acculturated at follow-up. It was concluded that while linguistic acculturation is relatively stable, interventions to increase acculturation have implications for mental health service utilization.

Collapsed Temporalities in Social Media

Social network sites (SNSs) raise complex questions regarding the perception of time. They can also produce a feeling of “co-presence” (Miller, 2011), mixing temporalities of “past, present and future”. Within their affordances, SNSs generate “collapsed contexts” (Marwick and boyd, 2010). When it comes to migrants that leave their home countries, such tools are frequently used in order to maintain a connection with family, friends and land that were left behind. This paper aims at proposing the notion of “collapsed temporalities” to reflect upon Cuban migrants who (voluntarily and legally) moved to Brazil. Apart from the theoretical discussion, we analyze self-narratives on Facebook of two Cuban immigrants, who had agreed to participate in the research and also conceded us online interviews. We argue that, once displaced, they have to deal with multiple layers of temporalities that affect their own self-narratives in terms of language and content.

The Case of Cubans: Racial Inequality in U.S. Homeownership and Home Values

Prior research finds that human capital may explain racial housing inequality, whereas others note the historical role that race played in creating unequal housing conditions. This study uses the case of Cubans in the United States to examine whether human capital explains Black–White housing inequalities, or if they are a result of nativity/cohort differences—a proxy for the federal policies that supported Cubans’ economic and social incorporation. Using pooled data from the American Community Survey, I examine how human capital characteristics and nativity/migration cohorts shape odds of homeownership and predicted home values among Cubans. Extended analyses using decomposition methods find that although human capital characteristics are important, they play a smaller role in explaining Black–White differences in homeownership and home values. Indicative of the changing structure of racial stratification in the United States, results reveal substantial inequality among the oldest of Cuban immigrants and U.S.‐born Cubans, despite a trend toward declining inequality among recent arrivals. Supported by the literature of systemic racism, the case of Cubans shows how human capital explanations do not sufficiently explain racial housing inequalities and how the future of racial stratification is one of inter‐ and intra‐ethnic group inequality.