Figure 1.--Here we see a little Cuban refugee boy, we think in Miami, participating in a demonstration protesting the brutalities of the Castro regime. Notice the Cuban straw sugar cane cutter hat and bandana along with his very American soft drink can. (Few boys in Cuba can afford a canned drink.) The photograph is dated 1977, a few years before the Mariel Boatlift. The Cubans have proven to be one of the most successful immigrant groups. In sharp contrast, Cuba under Castro and Comminism have suffered drastic economic decline, become one of the poorest countries in Latin America. And this despite receiving masive economic aid from first the Soviets and now of all places Communist Venezuela where people are beginning to starve.

Cuba was a Spanish colony for over 4 ceturies, the scond place Columbus landed after landing in the Bahamas (1492). This was more than a century before English settlement of North America began (1600s) and nearly 3 centuries beore the United States was founded (1780s). As a Spanish colony, relations with the United States was limited and immigration was virtually nill. Cuba and Puerto Rico were the last vestages of the Spanish Empire in the new world. And slavery continued there and in Brazil. The Amistad Affair highlighted this trade. Until the Civil War there was some illegal smuggling of slaves into the Southern states. There is no available data on the extent of this trade. Cubaan relations were not of any significance until the Spamish American War (1898-99) the Spanish were forced out of Cuba. Cuba gained full independence (1903). Immigration to the United States was very limited. Substantial Cuban immigration only began after the Cuban Revolution and Fidel Castro's seizure of power (1959). And this only increased as Castro began implementing Communist policies in Cubam, destroying the prosperous Cuban economy. The result was that the Cuban population in the United States grew almost six-fold in only a decade, from a mere 79,000 people (1960) to 439,000 (1970). The Cubans became Cold War refugees. As refugess from a brutal repressive Communist dictatorship, Cubans reaching the United States were technically admitted or paroled. This was based on a special humanitarian provisions based on communist oppression on the island, a pathway different than the traditional immigration procedure required for most immigrant groups for which there were natiinal origin quotas. Congress overhauled the immigratin system, radically changing the national origin quotas (1965). Congress addressed Cuban immigration spraely. It passed the Cuban Adjustment Act (CAA) (1966). This allowed Cubans to become lawful permanent residents (LPRs better known as green-card holders) after being physically present in the United States for only 1 year. Castro's Communist government limited emigration, as in other Communist countries it was an embarassment. Anyone applying for an emigration permit was targeted by the gioverment including being fired. There was also extra-judicial actins. Castro referred to them as 'gusanos' (worms). Occassionally, Castro allowed people to leave without authorization, in part part to create a safety valve for the failure of his Coimmunist regime. The largest such event was the Mariel Boatlift (1980). The Mariel exodous brought some 125,000 Cubans to Florida by boat. Castro to punish the United tates emptied out his prisons to mix fellons into the Marielitio refugees.

Created: 12:46 PM 4/9/2019
Last updated: 12:46 PM 4/9/2019