“I am Fidel Castro, and we have come to liberate Cuba”. These ambitious words derived from Fidel Castro, the person behind the Cuban Revolution, were at the time, weightless, and couldn’t be fully acknowledged. In reality, Castro’s Revolution was the preface of the Cuban Exodus and the mass waves of Cuban emigration that were to come. The historically spaced waves of emigration were fueled as time passed, and Fidel Castro’s revolution led to the eventual event of more than 2.7 million Cubans leaving for the U.S. Tens of thousands of Cubans perished while attempting to flee Castro’s dictatorship. Throughout these events, one thing has remained indistinguishable, and that is the fact that the revolution led by Fidel Castro, was the driving force behind the many Cuban exiles, emigrations, and deaths.
The Cuban Revolution can be identified as the main cause of the refugee crisis. Still, the Revolution was not powerful enough to be the only thing driving 2.7 million Cubans out of their home. Alongside Castro’s Revolution, came social, political, and economic issues. “Tens of thousands of Cubans moved abroad during the 1940s and 1950s, seeking better economic opportunities and civil liberties (Jorge Duany)”. These issues added fuel to the fire and created an even greater reason for Cubans to emigrate. The newly transformed government, ruled by the Communist Party, proved to be another force behind the Cuban exodus. With its one-party government and denial of basic rights, there were many political problems that the country had to face. Past this, there were problems with the socialist reforms that were implemented in the country. All of these reasons would be enough to drive Cubans out of the country, but then, there were also the incomparably better conditions that they found in America. “This massive and sustained flow—spawned not only by political and economic conditions in Cuba but also by U.S. policies that have served as a magnet for this migration (Jorge Duany)”. It is evident that Cuban emigration is not just centered around the Cuban Revolution, but a wide variety of issues. These issues were strong enough to start the Cuban exodus alongside Castro’s Revolution.
The reasoning behind the many waves of emigration from Cuba was set in stone, but the aftermath of the events was not. The Cuban Revolution had “sparked a wave of asylum seekers that steadily grew as the 1950s came close (gov)”. The mass waves of Cubans seeking help from America led to the Cuban Refugee Program, which was meant to better assist the needy Cuban refugees. Soon, things became easier, as Cuban refugees found new homes in America. One such place is the city of Miami, which had become the home of 500,000 Cubans in the 15 years after the Cuban Revolution. The high population of Cuban refugees inevitably resulted in changes in the city, centered around the Cuban refugees' traumatic experience with the revolution. “As wave upon wave of immigrants rebuilt their lives after the traumatic experience of the revolution, they recreated and reinterpreted Cuban culture in a new homeland, blazing a path that led to the transformation of Miami into a Latin American city (PBS)”. The refugees had a major impact on their surroundings due to the sheer number of them that had been forced out of the country. The refugees had been forced to emigrate through the many deaths caused by the Cuban Revolution, showing the direct effects it had on the lives of the Cuban refugees. While the refugees had sacrificed many things, they were able to find new lives in America. “It’s the same feeling you get when your house burns down. You escaped, but your house burned down (Reynaldo Arenas)”.
The effects of the Cuban Revolution were felt by millions, eliciting the mass waves of Cuban refugees. I believe that the Cuban Revolution had such a major effect, that no other event would be able to replicate the way it affected the Cuban refugees. In short, the Cuban revolution had a direct impact on the Cuban refugees. Be it political, social, or economic means, the Cuban revolution was what indisputably caused Cubans to leave their homes, make hard sacrifices, and find new lives in America.
Works Cited -
“Cuban Refugee Program, 1960-1970.” National Archives, 12 Aug. 2022, www.archives.gov/research/immigration/cuban-refugee-program#:~:text=The%20Cuban%20Revolution%20. Accessed 4 Dec. 2023.
Duany, Jorge. “Cuban Migration: A Postrevolution Exodus Ebbs and Flows.” Migrationpolicy.org, 3 July 2017, www.migrationpolicy.org/article/cuban-migration-postrevolution-exodus-ebbs-and-flows. Accessed 4 Dec. 2023.
American Experience. “Cuban Exiles in America.” Pbs.org, American Experience, 13 Dec. 2017, www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/castro-cuban-exiles-america/. Accessed 4 Dec. 2023.
G, Jeffrey. ““The Cuban Refugee Problem in Perspective, 1959 -1980.”” The Heritage Foundation, 2019, www.heritage.org/americas/report/the-cuban-refugee-problem-perspective-1959-1980. Accessed 6 Dec. 2023.
C-SPAN. “Cuban Refugees “in Their Own Words” - 1980 Reel America Preview.” YouTube, 31 May 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITSSD6UUBHg. Accessed 5 Dec. 2023.
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