"Look out for rafters!": Cuban Relations with the United States

Hawks Cay Lagoon

Last summer my family and I spent the week at Hawks Cay, a resort in Duck Key, Florida. As a joke, my Dad said, "Look out for rafters!" (cubans who are traveling on raft to the US). The truth is that the cubans that I saw were not on rafts––they were here, working at the resort!

To understand why there are many cubans in Florida, we have to understand recent Cuban/US foreign relations. In 1959, Fidel Castro sparked a wave of emigration to the United States when he began to lead his communist revolutionary army in Cuba. A variety of immigrants, including affluent and poor cubans, attempted to move to the United States from 1960 to 1980, but the most desperate immigrants made risky trips on makeshift rafts between 1980 and 2000. Library of Congress writes that "many thousands rode only on flimsy, dangerous, homemade vessels, including inner tubes, converted cars, and cheap plywood rafts, or balsos. Hundreds of the balseros died on the journey, and both governments came under global pressure to stop the flotillas" (loc.gov).

While some cubans made it to the United States, their struggle did not end there. The stigmatization of cuban immigrants in the United States has reduced their likelihood for success. Furthermore, many cubans that arrived in the US from 1980 to 2000 had little skills to offer and had no choice but to work in the service industries located in Florida.

Tourists from around the country can visit the keys in Florida to get a taste of cuban life. Palm trees, little huts on the beach, and warm sunshine provide a respite for travelers (like they say, "it's always sunny in Miami!"). Because Cuba remains off limits for most US citizens, Florida becomes the next best thing. Florida becomes a site of exploitation of Cuban immigrant labor and a near-monopoly on the Cuban tourist industry.

Meanwhile, cuban relations have not improved much in the 21st century and US restrictions on trade with Cuba has created a strain on the Cuban economy. I argue that the increased visibility of cubans and cuban culture in Florida has a dual effect that highlights commodified cuban culture while erasing cuban revolutionary history and the US's strict anti-immigration regulations.

Sources:
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/cuban5.html