The Cuban American Community in Miami: The Politics of Exile and Migration

Abstract

There is a fundamental dilemma that has confronted Cuban Americans in Miami and elsewhere because of their unique situation. This situation can be described as either an exile or a migration. The exile description denotes a dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs, a feeling which certainly applies to most Cuban Americans in Miami as they think, with sadness and anger, about how much suffering they believe Castro has subjected on them and the Cubans who remained behind. The migration, on the other hand, denotes a sense of accomplishment in the creation of a new society in Miami, as Cubans settled into the South Florida soil and developed a hybrid Cuban-American culture which, despite many difficulties, has succeeded beyond most expectations. These two concepts of what it is to be a Cuban American in Miami are often hard to distinguish, because the underlying motives and desires of those who consider themselves exiles and those who are migrants are usually very similar, if not the same. In examination of the historical background behind the formation of the Cuban American community, its economic & political development, and its contemporary identification with political events of local, national and international significance, the dichotomy between the permanent nature of settlement and the yearnings for changes which might disrupt this settlement and the yearnings for changes which might disrupt this settlement make the community a fascinating object of study.

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