Understanding the Cuban American Culture

Cuba is a very diverse country, but it is very poverty-stricken and is still decades

It has long been a pattern in the United States that immigrants will assimilate into the culture when they live close to white neighborhoods. Latin American immigrants move throughout the country in different ways. Cubans are an anomaly due to the fact that they live very separated from White Americans even when they have been here for generations (Chaves et al, 2005: 511). Even though they are assimilated into American culture, Cubans still prefer to live in their own communities. This

Cuban Americans are also considered native born Americans with Cuban parents or Cuban-born persons who were raised and educated in US. Cuban Americans form the third-largest Hispanic group in the United States and also the largest group of Hispanics of European ancestry as a percentage within the group in the US. Many communities throughout the United States have significant Cuban American populations. However Miami, Florida, with a Cuban population of 837,985 in its environs, stands out as the most prominent Cuban American community, in part because of its proximity to Cuba. It is followed by the Tampa Bay Area, North Jersey, particularly Union City and West New York. With a population of 141,250, the New York metropolitan area is the largest Cuban community outside of Florida. Cuban Americans have been very successful in establishing

There have been several regions of United States that have gone through cultural changes throughout time. The indigenous people on the East coast went through a cultural change when the pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. The people that lived in the North went through a cultural change when the French entered by the St. Lawrence River bringing their Roman Catholicism religion. The people that were living in what is now Alaska went through cultural change when the Russians entered the area with their new language and orthodox religion. More recently, the people of Miami have gone through cultural changes since the Cubans have entered Southern Florida. To understand the migration of Cubans to Southern

The Cuban Missile Crisis is one of the most impactful events in the Cold War due to the effect that it had after it happened. The effect of the Cuban Missile Crisis created many changes on the direct and indirect relations between the United States and Soviet Union. The Cuban Missile Crisis spanned 13 days in October 1962 that almost brought the world into a nuclear war. This all began when a United States U-2 spy plane Cuba took photos of Soviet SS-4 medium range ballistic missiles getting setup for the ability to launch.This caused the U.S leaders to be thrown into a panic because the Cuban Government had very strong ties with the Soviet Union who are the United States biggest enemies at the time. Another reason the United States was very fearful is because the coast of Cuba is only 90 miles of the coast of Florida. When President John F Kennedy was told of the missile threat in Cuba he immediately called a meeting with his closest advisors on how to react. There were many ideas on how to react to the missiles, some of Kennedy’s advisors wanted to invade Cuba, others wanted to send a warning to the Soviet Union. JFK finally decided to send a naval blockade to cuba for the purpose of stopping more supplies reaching the Cuban military from Russia. The blockade even though the blockade did not include attacking anyone, it was still seen as an act of aggression by the Soviet Union. The U.S was

On the island, the standard of living progressively deteriorated to the point where it can now be politely described as dismal. Cuba was an economic failure and survived only because of massive Soviet assistance that effectively ended with the demise of the Soviet Union, which only accelerated the economic deterioration; Cuba has essentially been in a state of economic stasis since these events, now over five decades ago (Central Intelligence Agency, 2017). Fidel Castro remained solidly in control until a combination of age and infirmity forced him to relinquish his position to his brother Raúl, who does remain in power at present. While there was some recent softening in the official American attitude toward Cuba, including admission to the Organization of American States and the resumption of diplomatic relations with the United States, the economic blockade and strict currency restrictions do remain in place (Central Intelligence Agency, 2017). At present, the relationship between the United States and Cuba is currently in a state of flux as the Trump administration determines its course of action toward Cuba (Davis,

The Cuban community in the United States is one of the most rapidly growing Latin-American groups. They are known as Cuban Americans, and include not only American citizens or residents born in Cuba, but also long distant Cuban descendants. The areas with the highest concentration of this spicy ethnic group are South Florida, Tampa Bay Area, and North Hudson, New Jersey. South Florida is definitely the capital of the Cuban American community, since an estimate of almost seventy percent (70%) of the entire group lives there. The essence of this community does not stops with the country of precedence, other factors such as the culture and customs are truly relevant.

Prior to the development of Cuban American communities, 1940 census reflected the population of South Florida being 172,172. Approximately 99.9% of the population spoke English and over 92% of the population was white. The growth of Cuban American communities in South Florida drastically altered this demography. Today, Florida is now the third largest state in the nation, with more than 20 million people in 2015. Florida's growth can best be termed a "population boom facilitated by a series of migration. Although migration from other northern states continues to be a major contributor to population growth, international migration plays a more important role, particularly in the south. According to the Pew Research Center 2015 statistical profile of Hispanics of Cuban origin, there is an estimated 2 million who live in the United States. This accounts for 3.7 percent of the overall Latino population. Cuban Americans are the most regionally concentrated, with approximately 70 percent residing in South Florida. This change in demography has also carried linguistic implications. The first wave of immigrants who arrived in the United States all thought that they were in temporary exile and it was only a matter of time before the new government was overthrown and they would be able to return to their island home. Consequently, unlike many other immigrant groups they made little attempts to assimilate in the United States, instead they maintained their culture, customs and more importantly their language. Therefore, in the late 1900s Spanish speakers comprised over 1/3 of the population SAY MORE

Cuba. The well-known island all over the world and located ninety miles south of Florida is the largest island of the West Indies. The island is popular for its natural beauty and cultural heritages. After the Cuban revolution that took place in 1950s, Batista regime was overthrown and new government was formed which was led by Fidel Castro. Since then Cuba was ruled by Fidel Castro until recently. In 2008, because of Fidel Castro’s illness, his brother Raul Castro replaced him. Many Cubans supported the Cuban revolution in the hope of seeing changes in Cuba; however after Castro seized the power in 1959, many left Cuba to find the better life and live free from the communist government in Cuba.

Cuba is an island located in the Caribbean Sea. The island is part of what is known as the Caribbean, due to its location in the Caribbean Sea and the islands located in the same vicinity. Islands like Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), Puerto Rico, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands border close by. The country is known for a vast amount of reasons. Cuba is full of beautiful landscapes, plentiful resources that are often exports (sugar cane and cigars) and a rich history, which dates back as far as 1492.

Before the conflict between the United States and Cuba, the two countries were strongly connected in terms of trading, with the US purchasing 87% of Cuba’s exports (CITE). However, once Fidel Castro came to power in Janurary 1959 after successfully overpowering President Batista and established Cuba as a communist state, relations became strained. In the following year, $1.8 billion US assets in Cuba were taken by Castro and the newly Communist state created close ties with the Soviet Union (CITE 2). In the year of 1963, travel and financial transactions with Cuba were both prohibited. Traverse from the United States to Cuba was made illegal on February 8, 1963 and the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, or CACR, issued economic sanctions prohibiting financial transactions with Cuba in July of that same year (CITE 2). In the year of 1977, President Jimmy Carter attempted to repair the relationship between countries by opening a “US Interests Section” in replacement of the previously closed US Embassy in Havana. Carter also began talks with Cuba.

Castro passed a reform act, which limited private land ownership, confiscated all foreign-owned investments, and established what would be a relationship with the Soviet Union. In April, CIA-trained Cuban exiles staged the Bay of Pigs invasion, a failed attempt to topple the Castro regime. Later that year, Castro proclaimed Cuba a socialist country. The following year, the Cuban Missile Crisis started when the United States discovered Soviet missiles in Cuba. The crisis ended when the Soviets agreed to remove the missiles and, in exchange, the United States promised never to invade Cuba. By the end of the 1970s, the economy began to slip and, aggravated by political oppression, life on the island became intolerable for many. Since then, numerous Cubans have sought to exile themselves from the island. Today, Cuba remains the only communist government in the Western hemisphere. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, an already struggling Cuban economy took a turn for the worse. Facing civil unrest in the wake of an all-but-collapsed economy, the Cuban government has been forced to dabble in capitalism and reverse its position on tourism. In February 2008 Fidel Castro announced he was stepping down as president in favor of his brother Raúl. It was the end of an era. (Gall, 170)

Between the years of 1947 and 1991, the two global superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, were fighting to spread their beliefs of government throughout the world. The United States wanted to spread democracy, while the Soviet Union wanted to spread communism. This majorly affected Cuba because in 1959, it became a communist country under the rule of Fidel Castro, only ninety miles from the United States. The Cold War impacted Cuba positively and negatively because it received lots of aid and goods from the Soviets, however Castro abolished several freedoms that the people had prior to his ruling. Since Cuba was working with the Soviets, the United States placed an embargo on Cuba which destroyed Cuba’s economy after the Cold

More than fifty years after the Cuban Missile Crisis, Cuba is still a ruthless nation. Cuba has tried to become a peaceful nation. Cuba has resources that are very effective in the rise of a country. Countries like the United States don’t want to trade with Cuba after the conflict. However, this is just a hypothesis. Both countries have been at each other since Fidel Castro came into power in 1959. Castro began a revolution and overthrew Fulgencio Bastista, who was the president of Cuba at the time. Cuba became a Communist country under the rule of Castro. He started making deals with Russia, the mother country of Russia. Not only that, he started to increase taxes on American imports. The government made the decision to ban any form of export to Cuba. President John F. Kennedy made it into an embargo that made restrictions on traveling. The United States wanted to overthrow the government which angered Cuba. In response, they allowed the Soviet Union to build a missile base. The United States found out these plans and made a demand to destroy the base for good. This resulted in the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Crisis ended with an agreement. The agreement was that Cuba will destroy the base if the United States doesn’t invade their country. Cuba lost about 1.126 Trillion dollars all because of trade restrictions. This embargo has affected Cuba dramatically.

Despite of Castro’s main diplomatic goal to break off ties with the U.S., he did not hesitate to be supported by the Soviet Union. More specifically, the online article, “Fidel Castro Biography,” says that Cuba depended on the U.S.S.R. to help it's national defense, as well as to trade and buy oil. In addition, Cuba depended on the Soviet Union to help improve its citizens standard of living, as well as trade of firearms (“Fidel Castro”). However, relations did not remain simple forever. In 1962, Castro secretly welcomed Soviet Union tomahawk missiles on Cuban grounds, just off the coast of Florida in order to prevent another U.S. attack, and in response to U.S. nuclear missiles stationed in Turkey and Italy.