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A Cuban American is a United States citizen whose ancestry can be traced to Cuba. Many communities throughout the United States have significant Cuban American populations. However, Miami, Florida stands out as the most prominent Cuban American community, in part because of its proximity to Cuba. It is followed by Union City, New Jersey, an attractive place for Cuban Americans to settle because of its proximity to New York City. And recently, there are substantial growth of new Cuban-American communities in places like Hazleton, Pennsylvania, Raleigh, North Carolina and Palm Desert, California indicates not only more socioeconomic mobility, but assimilation of older-generation Cuban Americans in American society to move anywhere to create lives anew.
Immigration
In the late 1800s, a Cuban entrepreneur named Vicente Martinez-Ybor started a cigar making business in Tampa. Soon, other Cuban businessmen followed Ybor's example. Within several years, Tampa had a thriving cigar making industry. Numerous Cuban families lived and worked in the area known as Ybor City near Tampa, and there are many third and fourth generation Cuban Americans who trace their Cuban heritage directly to this early immigration. 1960 - 1980Political upheaval in Cuba created new waves of Cuban immigrants to the U.S. In 1959, after the Cuban revolution led by Fidel Castro, a large Cuban exodus began. From 1960 to 1979, hundreds of thousands of Cubans left Cuba and began a new life in America, often forming the backbone of the anti-Castro movement. Most Cuban Americans that arrived in the United States came from Cuba's educated, upper and middle classes. Like many immigrants, the Cuban Americans often had little money, which was further exacerbated by Cuban government measures taken to prevent removal of wealth from Cuba. In order to provide aid to recently arrived Cuban immigrants, the United States Congress passed the Cuban American Adjustment Act in 1966. The Cuban Refugee Program provided more than $1.2 billion of direct financial assistance. They also were eligible for public assistance, Medicare, free English courses, scholarships, and low interest college loans. Some banks even pioneered loans for exiles who did not have collateral or credit but received help in getting a business loan simply because they were of Cuban descent. These loans enabled many Cuban Americans to secure funds and create their own businesses.
1980sAnother large wave (an estimated 120,000 people) of Cuban immigration occurred in the early 1980s with the Mariel boatlifts. Many Cuban Americans already living in the United States had a negative opinion of the "Marielitos" (the name given to refugees who entered the country during the Mariel boatlift), because they believed the Marielitos caused damage to the Cuban American community's reputation. This belief was rooted in concerns regarding Fidel Castro opening the jails in order to allow convicted felons and committed mental patients to intermingle with the crowds of otherwise innocent emigrants. However, many of the "Marielitos" became prosperous, through their own efforts, with government assistance and assistance from earlier immigrants, relatives and charitable organizations. Cuban American culture
The culture of Cuban Americans varies from community, and from person to person. However, there are distinct features that characterize most Cuban Americans. Cuban Americans represent a total of only 4% of the Hispanic population in the United States. Compared with the rest of the Hispanic population in the United States, Cuban Americans are older, have a higher level of education, higher median household income and higher rate of home ownership. There are approximately 1.5 million Cuban Americans, both native and foreign born. About 86% of Cuban Americans identify themselves as being Caucasian, mostly Spanish. Others are Afro-Cuban, Chinese Cuban, and Arab Cuban. EconomicsThe median household income for Cuban Americans is $36,671, a figure higher than other Hispanic groups, but lower than for non-Hispanic whites. In contrast, native-born Cuban Americans have a higher median income than even non-Hispanic whites, $50,000 as compared to $48,000 for non-Hispanic whites. Education25% of Cuban Americans have a college education, about twice the average of all other Hispanic groups, and lower than that of non-Hispanic whites, of which 30% are college graduates. However, 39% of native-born Cuban Americans have a college degree or higher, as compared to only 30% of non-Hispanic whites, and 12% for all other Hispanic groups. ReligionDue to Spanish influence, most Cuban Americans belong to the Roman Catholic Church. However, there are many Protesant (primarily Pentecostal), spiritualist (involved in Santeria), nonreligious, and Jewish Cuban Americans. FoodImage:Materva.jpg Materva is a yerba mate soft drink popular among Cuban Americans. AssimilationMany Cuban Americans have assimilated themselves into the mainstream U.S. culture, but in the city of Miami and its surroundings, there is a uniquely molded Cuban American community. Since the 1980s, Cuban Americans have moved out of "Little Havana" to the suburbs of Miami, such as Hialeah and Kendall as well as the more affluent Coral Gables and Miami Lakes. Many new South and Central Americans, along with new Cuban refugees, have replaced the Cuban Americans who have relocated elsewhere in Florida (Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Tampa Bay and West Palm Beach) and dispersed throughout the nation. Cuban Americans live in all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, which received thousands of anti-Castro refugees as well in the 1960s, and Cuban American population growth is found in California, Georgia, Illinois, New York, North Carolina and Virginia. Cuban Americans have been very successful in establishing businesses and developing political clout by transforming Miami from a beach retirement community into a modern city with a distinct Hispanic flavor. Political representationCuban Americans, especially in the Miami area, tend to be significantly more conservative politically than other Latino groups in the United States and form a major voting block for the Republican Party in the state of Florida. Many Cuban Americans are deeply resentful of the Castro regime. As such, they are more in tune with the strong anti-communist stance of the GOP. In addition, Cuban Americans in general tend to be significantly better off economically than the average Hispanic American, and the Miami area is one of the wealthiest urban centers in the country. Many Cuban Americans, including current commerce secretary Carlos Gutierrez, are business owners and entrepreneurs. Hence, they are aligned with the pro-business stance of Republican Party on economic issues as well. On issues such as abortion, taxation, and the military, Cubans find themselves on common ground with the Republicans, but the Cuban exile community has a fairly good relationship, yet disagrees with liberal Democrats who have shown concern on socioeconomic issues of Cuban immigrants for being "Latinos". The perceived botching of the Bay of Pigs incident among Cubans by John F. Kennedy despite his 1960 "Viva Kennedy" campaign drive to woe in Cubans eligible to vote hasn't succeeded like with Mexican American and Puerto Rican voters. Also to note is the popularity of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush in the Cuban exile community (there's a street in Miami named for Reagan), and the return of Elián González by the Clinton administration has reinforced the belief of many Cuban Americans that they belong in the Republican party. There are now four Cuban American members of the United States House of Representatives and two Senators (Mel Martinez of Florida, and Bob Menendez of New Jersey) in the United States Senate, as well as the Cuban American Secretary of Commerce, Carlos M. Gutierrez. In 2006 Marco Rubio, of Florida became the first Cuban-American Speaker of a State House in the Country. In the 1950s and 1960s, many Cubans whom fled the Batista military regime had strong liberal, yet equally patriotic feelings, such as Desi Arnaz, went to America to become singer, band conductor and TV actor married to actress Lucille Ball. Immigration policyBefore the 1980s, all refugees from Cuba were welcomed into the United States as political refugees. This changed in the 1990s so that only Cubans who reach U.S. soil are granted refuge under the Wet Feet/Dry Feet Policy. Cuban immigration also continues with an allotted number of Cubans (20,000 per year) provided legal U.S. visas. According to a U.S. Census 1970 report, Cuban Americans as well as Latinos lived in all 50 states. But as later Census reports demonstrated, the majority of Cuban immigrants settled in south Florida. A new trend in the late 1990s showed that less immigrants arrived from Cuba than previously. While U.S. born Cuban Americans moved out of their enclaves, other nationalities settled there. In late 1999, U.S. news media focused on the case of Elián González, the 6-year-old Cuban boy caught in a custody battle between his relatives in Miami and his father in Cuba. The fiasco ended on April 22, 2000, when INS agents took Elián González to the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C. From there, his father took him back to Cuba. See also
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