Lauren Harris

ANT 322 Latinos

Dr. Pendry

2015

Cubanos: Essay Assignment

Many people from different countries always dream of coming to the United

States, “The Land of the Free.” For many people living in Cuba, they made it a reality.

There are many different groups of Cubans who have fled their hometown of Cuba to

come to the United States. Many of these groups of people that migrated are placed in

different group categories: they are ones who migrated before 1959, from 1959 to the

early 1960s, from 1965 to 1973 during the freedom flights movement, Marielitos

movement in the early 1980s, during the Baiseros movement 1994-1996 and migrants

after 1996 on visa allotments. Each of these movements has their own uniqueness of the

movement. There are many groups that have come to the United States for different

reasons but most come because of political reasons. In the book “The Cubans of Union

City” by Yolanda Prieto, she talks about Cubans migrating from Cuba to the United

States, more specifically to Union City, New Jersey. Her family had immigrated on

March 19, 1968 because of “radical changes brought about by the Revolution of 1959”

(Prieto 2009 1). When many people emigrate from their countries, they have a hard time

adjusting to changes. It is a huge change in coming to a new country and starting a new

life, in a place that is not familiar.

When many Cubans migrated to the United States, most of them came to Miami,

Florida, which is the largest place of migration, New Jersey being the second largest

place where Cubans migrate to. Many of the people who migrated to Florida had to be

moved to other places because Florida got too over crowded. Cuba is only 90 miles from

the United States. The first group of migratrants are the ones coming before the

Revolution in 1959. Many of these people came to the United States because of economic

problems. Most of the people were the elites, rich people, looking to come to the United

States to make more money. The next group of immigrants left during the Revolution in

1959. Many of these people had to leave so quickly, that they only had the clothes on

their backs. Most of them lost everything they had, small businesses and homes, to come

to the United States for a better life. “Although many Cubans were from Havana, the

majority came from smaller cities and towns” (Prieto 2009 2). They came from all over

Cuba to escape from Fidel Castro, who was a communist. According Prieto “The first

wave of Cubans who came in the early 1960s represented the sections of society that

were most negatively affected by revolutionary changes: officers and personnel of the

former Batista government, the mainly white, upper middle classes, and professionals”

(2009 6-7). Life for Cubans in the United States was hard. One person that Prieto

interviewed talked about what life was like in those first few years of arriving. She said

there were no Hispanics; there were only a few Puerto Rican families, which helped them

(Prieto 2009 21). She also stated “Before the exiles came, Cubans were treated pretty

badly…It was very hard to find apartments because of discrimination” (Prieto 2009 22).

Many Cubans were seen as “problematic” and when they tried to get apartments to live

in, they would be terrible (Prieto 2009 22). It is terrible to think that many Cubans had

just left their home because of poor conditions to come to a country that discriminated

against them due to race. Julio Bello describes how his father viewed the United States

when they came to Union City in 1956, “He had a different idea of this country. He

didn’t like it that, here, women had to work. Also, the family did not spend a lot of time

together” (Prieto 2009 22). Most Cubans like living in the United States, because they are

free here. Everyone has their own opinions. In Union City there were a few Cuban

businesses before the 1960s migration, but the community largely grew after their arrival

(Prieto 2009 39). According to Prieto, “When they arrived in Union City, they needed a

lot of support. They received help from three major sources: (1) the Cuban Refugee

Program in Jersey City’s Hudson County Department of Social Services, (2) relatives

already residing in the area, and (3) existing organizations such as churches that began to

serve the needs of Cubans” (2009 41). Just like the Puerto Ricans, Cubans help each

other. Without the support of family, most of them would have a hard time surviving.

In the film “Cuban Roots/ Bronx Stories” the Foster family talks about their

family history, in coming to the United States from Cuba. At the beginning of the film,

Rubén Foster describes Cuba as being a place of love. He said Cuban music gave him the

impression that everyone loved everyone. Before the Revolution, life in Cuba was not a

bad place to live. Everything changed when the Revolution occurred. When Fidel Castro

took over, American tourism stopped, which meant it was harder to find jobs. The

United States wanted to get involved so they attacked Cuba and Diana Matsoukas recalls

being waken in the middle of the night to the sounds of bullets. They described it as

being a war zone. The Foster family also had to experience some major changes made in

Cuba, one example is the Urban Reform law which reduced the rent by 30 and 50 percent

(Cuban Roots/ Bronx Stories). When their family arrived in the United States it was hard

for them to adjust to the living situation. They arrived in Miami, Florida and immediately

when they arrived they were segregated. Their family then went to live in the Bronx New

York. They expected it to be much different then what it was like; they had the image in

their head as the, “American Dream,” where there is a white picket fence and everything

is greener on the other side. Once they arrived, they noticed that was not the case, but

they felt safe. When they went to school, the experiences they had were not very pleasant.

They did not speak English, and during that time bilingual did not exist (Cuban Roots/

Bronx Stories). Diana Matsoukas recalls trying to make friends but once they found out

that she spoke Spanish she was consider different (Cuban Roots/ Bronx Stories).

“Growing up in the United States makes it hard for a person to embrace multiple

identities, because in the United States you are either consider white or black, American

or immigrant” (Cuban Roots/ Bronx Stories).

The next group of Cubans who migrated after 1960s, after the mass of people

came to the United States. According to Prieto “The large number of exiles who came in

the late 1960s were, decidedly the ones who gave Union City its Cuban character” (2009

25). Between 1965- 1973 265,000 people migrated out of Cuba, this movement was

known as the Freedom Rights Movement. During this time there were so many people

coming to the United States that it was hard to process them when they got off the dock,

so many of them had to be processed at a stadium close by. Life was a little easier for

them when they arrived in the United States. “Most Cubans did not like to depend on

government aid. Families would help one another” (Prieto 2009 29). Many Cubans tried

to make a living for themselves without the help of the government. According to Manuel

Pérez, he talked about how Cubans they started to take care of the town and fix up

houses. Once they did that Americans started to respect them (Prieto 2009 29). He also

stated “Before then, there was not a good opinion of those of us who had lived here for

years. We were often discriminated against” (Prieto 2009 29). The ones who came to the

United States before this time went through the worst time, and they didn’t get any help

from the government (Prieto 2009 29). They started to get treated different because

Americans realized that they are good people, who are trying to live a happy life in the

United States. What most people do not realize is that when immigrates come over, they

do not want to start any trouble and they just want the same rights as American citizens

have.

Marianela Cruz was our guest speaker that came to class. She was born after the

Cuban Revolution took place. The life in Cuba was hard during that time. Castro told

them that he was not a communist, but it was clear that he was. She talked a lot about her

school days. She was in the Pioneer Organization, which is a program set up for

elementary school kids. They had to be a part of this group in order to go to college. They

had to go to camps for two months, away from their parents and they had to work in the

fields. If you were not a part of this program, you were not able to go to college.

Marianela Cruz’s father did not want her to join, but she wanted to go to college so she

did. In school they asked her to fill out a document the first three questions asked her if

she believed in God, had any relatives in the United States and if she did, did she keep in

contact with them. Castro does not like America, so he does not want anyone to talk to

Americans. Life in Cuba was a terrible situation to live in. When she came to the United

States in 2011, life was much better for her. Although she does not speak English well,

she is trying. In Cuba she went from being an animal science engineer to a janitor in the

United States. She is not ashamed of her life she lives now because she is happy and is in

a much better situation.

Many Americans, do not know how lucky we are to live in the United States.

There are many places where people live in bad conditions and wish to come to the land

of the free. Marianela Cruz said that we should be thankful to God that we live in such a

great country. We do not have to face as many hard times as people in Cuba have to face.

We have the right to vote for our leaders and we do not have to get told what to do.