| Total population |
|---|
| 1,785,547 0.6% of the total US population (2010)[1] |
| Regions with significant populations |
| Predominantly in Miami, Tampa Bay Area, Northern New Jersey, New York. Growing populations in California, Texas, Pennsylvania and Georgia. |
| Languages |
| Religion |
|
Predominantly Roman Catholic |
| Related ethnic groups |
|
Spaniards · Italians · Portuguese · Hispanics |
A Cuban American (Spanish: Cubano estadounidense) is a United States citizen who traces his or her "national origin" to Cuba. 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 (predominantly Spanish) as a percentage but not in numbers.[2][3][4]
Many communities throughout the United States have significant Cuban American populations.[5] However Miami, Florida, with a Cuban American population of 856,007 in its environs,[6] 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 and North Jersey, particularly Union City and West New York.[5] With a population of 141,250, the New York metropolitan area is the largest Cuban community outside of Florida.[6]
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Prior to the Louisiana Purchase and the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819, all of Florida and Louisiana were provinces of the Captaincy General of Cuba (Captain General being the Spanish title equivalent to the British colonial Governor). Consequently, Cuban immigration to the U.S. has a long history, beginning in the Spanish colonial period in 1565 when St. Augustine, Florida was established by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, and hundreds of Spanish-Cuban soldiers and their families moved from Cuba to St. Augustine to establish a new life. Thousands of Cuban settlers also immigrated to Louisiana between 1778 and 1802 and Texas during the period of Spanish rule.
In the mid-to late 19th century, several cigar manufacturers moved their operations to Key West to get away from growing disruptions as Cubans sought independence from Spanish colonial rule. Many Cuban cigar workers followed. The Cuban government had even established a grammar school in Key West to help preserve Cuban culture. There, children learned folk songs and patriotic hymns such as "La Bayamesa", the Cuban national anthem.
In 1885, Vicente Martinez Ybor moved his cigar operations from Key West to the town of Tampa, Florida to escape labor strife. Ybor City was designed as a modified company town, and it quickly attracted thousands of Cuban workers from Key West and Cuba. West Tampa, another new cigar manufacturing community, was founded nearby in 1892 and also grew quickly. Between these communities, the Tampa Bay area's Cuban population grew from almost nothing to the largest in Florida in just over a decade, and the city as a whole grew from a village of approximately 1000 residents in 1885 to over 16,000 by 1900.
Both Ybor City and West Tampa were instrumental in Cuba's eventual independence.[7] Inspired by revolutionaries such as Jose Martí, who visited Florida several times, Tampa-area Cubans and their sympathetic neighbors donated money, equipment, and sometimes their lives to the cause of Cuba Libre.[8] After the Spanish-American War, some Cubans returned to their native land, but many chose to stay in the U.S. due to the physical and economic devastation caused by years of fighting on the island.[9]
Several other small waves of Cuban emigration to the U.S. occurred in the early 20th century (1900–1959). Most settled in Florida and the northeast U.S. The majority of an estimated 100,000 Cubans arriving in that time period usually came for economic reasons (the Great Depression of 1929, volatile sugar prices and migrant farm labor contracts), but included anti-Batista refugees fleeing the military dictatorship, which had pro-U.S. diplomatic ties.
Political 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 as the new government allied itself with the Soviet Union and began to introduce communism. From 1960 to 1979, hundreds of thousands of Cubans left Cuba and began a new life in the United States. Most Cuban Americans that arrived in the United States initially came from Cuba's educated upper and middle classes. Between December 1960 and October 1962 more than 14,000 Cuban children arrived alone in the U.S. Their parents were afraid that their children were going to be sent to some Soviet bloc countries to be educated and they decided to send them to the States as soon as possible. This program was called Operation Peter Pan (Operacion Pedro Pan). When the children arrived in Miami they were met by representatives of Catholic Charities and they were sent to live with relatives if they had any or were sent to foster homes, orphanages or boarding schools until their parents could leave Cuba. In order to provide aid to recently arrived Cuban immigrants, the United States Congress passed the Cuban Adjustment Act in 1966. The Cuban Refugee Program provided more than $1.3 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. These loans enabled many Cuban Americans to secure funds and start up their own businesses. With their Cuban-owned businesses and low cost of living, Miami, Florida and Union City, New Jersey (dubbed "Little Havana-on-the Hudson")[10] were the preferred destinations for many immigrants and soon became the main centers for Cuban American culture. Union City had the opportunities offered by the embroidery industry. According to author Lisandro Perez, Miami was not particularly attractive to Cubans prior to the 1960s.[11] It was not until the mass exodus of the Cuban exiles in 1959 that Miami started to become a preferred destination. Westchester, Florida within Miami-Dade County, was the area most densely populated by Cubans and Cuban Americans in the United States, followed by Hialeah, Florida in second.[12] In 2010, Hialeah, Florida was the area most densely populated by Cubans and Cuban Americans in the U.S., followed by Westchester, Florida in second.
Communities like Miami, Tampa, and Union City, which Cuban-Americans have made their home, have experienced a profound cultural impact as a result, as seen in such aspects of their local culture as cuisine, fashion, music, entertainment and cigar-making.[13][14]
Another large wave (an estimated 125,000 people) of Cuban immigration occurred in the early 1980s with the Mariel boatlifts. Most of the "Marielitos" were people wanting to escape from communism, and have succeeded in establishing their roots in the US. Fidel Castro sent some 20 thousand criminals directly from Cuban prisons, as well as mentally ill persons from Cuban mental institutions, with the alleged double purpose of cleaning up Cuban society and poisoning the USA. Those people were labeled "unadmissible" by the US government, and with time, through many negotiations, have been returned to Cuba.The Cuban migration was a very tragic migration.
Since the mid-1990s, after the implementation of the "Wet Foot, Dry Foot" policy immigration patterns changed. Many Cuban immigrants departed from the southern and western coasts of Cuba and arrived at the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico; many landed on Isla Mujeres. From there Cuban immigrants traveled to the Texas-Mexico border and found asylum. Many of the Cubans who did not have family in Miami settled in Houston; this has caused Houston's Cuban American community to increase in size.The term "dusty foot" refers to Cubans immigrating to the U.S. through Mexico. In 2005 the Department of Homeland Security had abandoned the approach of detaining every dry foot Cuban who crosses through Texas and began a policy allowing most Cubans to obtain immediate parole.[15]
Jorge Ferragut, a Cuban immigrant who founded Casa Cuba, an agency that assists Cuban immigrants arriving in Texas, said in a 2008 article that many Cuban immigrants of the first decade of the 21st century left due to economic instead of political issues.[16] By October 2008 Mexico and Cuba created an agreement to prevent immigration of Cubans through Mexico.[17][18]
Before 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". While representing a tightening of U.S. immigration policy, the wet foot, dry foot policy still affords Cubans a privileged position relative to other immigrants to the U.S. This privileged position is the source of a certain friction between Cuban Americans and other Latin citizens and residents in the United States, adding to the tension caused by the divergent foreign policy interests pursued by conservative Cuban Americans. 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 fewer 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, after the boy's mother died trying to bring him to the United States. On April 22, 2000, INS agents took Elián González to the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C. From there, his father took him back to Cuba.
Many Cuban Americans have assimilated themselves into the American culture, which includes Cuban influences.
Since the 1980s, Cuban Americans have moved out of "Little Havana" and "Hialeah" to the suburbs of Miami, such as Kendall, as well in 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, Indiana, Texas, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.
More recently, there has been substantial growth of new Cuban-American communities in places like Hazleton, Pennsylvania; Raleigh, North Carolina; Austin, Texas; La Puente, California; Lancaster, California and Palmdale, California; Palm Desert, California; Union City, California and Fremont, California in the San Francisco Bay Area; and a number of counties in Nevada such as Clark.
Recently small increases of Cuban Americans were in Appleton, Wisconsin; Sterling, Illinois; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Henderson, Nevada; and the Seattle Metropolitan area of Washington state.
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 younger demographic base with a distinct Caribbean flavor.
The top 25 US communities with the highest percentage of people claiming Cuban ancestry are (the top 24 of which are in Miami):[12]
For total 101 communities, see the reference given. Top 20 U.S. communities with the most residents born in Cuba are (all of which are located within Miami):[19]
US citizens of Cuban descent tend to be significantly more politically conservative than other Hispanic groups in the United States and form a major voting block for the Republican Party (GOP) in the state of Florida. Many Cuban Americans fled the island to escape the political and economic repression that they experienced under the Fidel Castro's communist government. As such, they tend to identify with the strong anti-communist stance of the Republican Party. The so-called "Cuban-American Lobby" exercises a greatly disproportionate role in U.S. politics and foreign policy, influencing presidential elections directly in one of the most important "swing" states, and foreign policy in Washington by virtually ensuring that the United States economic embargo against Cuba is maintained at the expense of improved relations with other Latin American and Caribbean countries. The power of the Cuban-American Lobby, reinforced by representatives from Florida and New Jersey in the U.S. Congress, and well-placed Cuban-Americans in all branches of the federal government and both major political parties, is arguably second only to that of the so-called Jewish lobby. In terms of its influence relative to the population of U.S. citizens of Cuban-American heritage, the Cuban-American lobby is the most powerful in U.S. foreign policy.
However there has been a noticeable change since the 2008 elections, in which Democrat Barack Obama received 47% of the Cuban American vote in Florida.[20] According to Bendixen's exit polls, 84% of Miami-Dade Cuban American voters 65 or older backed McCain, while 55% of those 29 or younger backed Obama.[21] This shows that the younger Cuban-American generation has shifted to becoming more liberal.
The failed Bay of Pigs invasion, and its association with John F. Kennedy, left many Cubans distrustful of the Democratic Party. Many Cuban Americans believe that Kennedy deliberately denied Cuban exiles air support, leading to a rout by Castro forces. The trauma of this event has led to speculation about possible Cuban-American involvement in the assassination of President Kennedy. Ronald Reagan, on the other hand, is particularly popular in the Cuban exile community (there is a street in Miami named for Reagan)..
There are now four Cuban-American members of the United States House of Representatives: David Rivera, Mario Diaz-Balart, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Albio Sires and two senators (Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Marco Rubio of Florida) in the United States Senate. The former Secretary of Commerce, Carlos M. Gutierrez, is also a Cuban-American and Mel Martinez represented Florida in the US Senate from 2004 to 2009. Lincoln Diaz-Balart represented Florida in the United States House of Representatives from 1993 to 2011.
Cuban American Marco Rubio was the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives from 2006 until 2009, and became a US Senator in 2010.
Eduardo Aguirre served as Vice Chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States in the George W. Bush administration and later named Director of Immigration and Naturalization Services under the Department of Homeland Security. In 2006, Eduardo Aguirre was named US ambassador to Spain. Cuban-Americans have also served other high profile government jobs including White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu.
Cuban-Americans also serve in high ranking judicial positions as well. Danny Boggs is the current chief judge of United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and Raoul G. Cantero, III, served as a Florida Supreme Court justice until stepping down in 2008.
Cuban food is varied, though rice is a staple and commonly served at lunch and dinner. Other common dishes are arroz con pollo (chicken and rice), pan con bistec (steak sandwich), platanos maduros (sweet plantains), lechon asado (pork), yuca (cassava root), flan, batido de mamey (mamey milkshake), papayas, and guava paste.
A common lunch staple is the Cuban sandwich (sometimes called a mixto sandwich), which is built on Cuban bread and was created and standardized among cigar workers who traveled between Cuba and Florida (especially Ybor City) around the turn of the 20th century[22][23][24]
Cuban versions of pizza contains bread, which is usually soft, and cheese, toppings, and sauce, which is made with spices such as Adobo and Goya onion. Picadillo, ground beef that has been sauteed with tomato, green peppers, green olives, and garlic is another popular Cuban dish. It can be served with black beans and rice, and a side of deep-fried, ripened plantains.
Cubans often drink cafe cubano: a small cup of coffee called a cafecito (or a colada), which is traditional espresso coffee, sweetened with sugar, with a little foam on top called espumita. It is also popular to add milk, which is called a cortadito for a small cup or a cafe con leche for a larger cup.
A common soft drink is Materva, a Cuban soda made of yerba mate. Jupiña, Ironbeer and Cawy lemon-lime are soft drinks which originated in Cuba. Since the Castro era, they are also produced in Miami. Other famous Cuban drinks include guarapo de caña.
| Official Immigration to the U.S[25][26] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year of Immigration |
White | Black | Other | Asian | Number |
| 1959-64 | 93.3 | 1.2 | 5.3 | 0.2 | 144,732 |
| 1965-74 | 87.7 | 2.0 | 9.1 | 0.2 | 247,726 |
| 1975-79 | 82.6 | 4.0 | 13.3 | 0.1 | 29,508 |
| 1980 | 80.9 | 5.3 | 13.7 | 0.1 | 94,095 |
| 1981-89 | 85.7 | 3.1 | 10.9 | 0.3 | 77,835 |
| 1990-93 | 84.7 | 3.2 | 11.9 | 0.2 | 60,244 |
| 1994–2000 | 85.8 | 3.7 | 10.4 | 0.7 | 174,437 |
| Total | 87.2 | 2.9 | 9.6 | 0.2 | 828,577 |
| Race by Cuban national Origin, 2000 [3] | |||||
| Country of Origin | White | Black | Other | ||
| Cuba | 85.0% | 3.6% | 7.1% | ||
| Total: 1,241,685 | 1,055,432 | 44,700 | 88,159 | ||
The ancestry of Cuban Americans comes primarily from Spain.[27]
During the 18th, 19th and early part of the 20th century, large waves of Castilians, Basques, Canarians, Catalans, Andalusians, and Galicians emigrated to Cuba. Much of Haiti's white population (French) migrated to Cuba after the Haitian War of Independence in the early 18th century. Also, minor but significant ethnic influx is derived from diverse peoples from Middle East places such as Lebanon and Palestine. There was also a significant influx of Jews, especially between the World Wars, from many countries, including Sephardi Jews from Turkey and Ashkenazi Jews from Poland, Germany and Russia. Other Europeans that have contributed slightly include Italians, Germans, Swedes, and Hungarians. Many Chinese also settled Cuba as contract laborers and they formerly boast the largest Chinatown in Western Hemisphere as most Chinese Cubans left for Florida.
In the most recent census in 2000 there were 1,241,685 Cuban Americans, both native and foreign born and represented 3.5% of all Hispanics in the US. About 85% of Cuban Americans identify themselves as being White, mostly Spanish, which is the highest proportion of all other major Hispanic groups. In Florida, Cuban Americans have cultural ties with the state's large Spanish American or European Spanish community. In the 2007 ACS, there were 1,611,478 Americans with national origins in Cuba. 983,147 were born abroad in Cuba, 628,331 were U.S born and of the 1.6 million, 415,212 were not U.S citizens.[28]
The median household income for Cuban Americans is $36,671, a figure higher than all other Hispanic groups, but lower than for non-Hispanic whites.
In contrast, US-born Cuban Americans have a higher median income than even non-Hispanic whites, $50,000 as compared to $48,000 for non-Hispanic whites.[29]
25% of Cuban Americans have a college education, about twice the average of all other Hispanic groups with Dominican Americans trailing by a close 22%, and lower than that of non-Hispanic whites, of which 30% are college graduates.[29]
However, 39% of US-born Cuban Americans have a college degree or higher, as compared to only 30% of non-Hispanic whites.[29]
Being of primarily Spanish extraction, most Cuban Americans are Roman Catholic, but some Cubans practice African traditional religions (such as Santería or Ifá), which evolved from mixing the Catholic religion with the traditional African religion. However, there are many Protestant (primarily Pentecostal) with small numbers of syncretist, nonreligious or tiny communities of Muslim and Jewish Cuban Americans.
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