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This chapter discusses the dominant Cuban exile narrative of cubanidad or Cubanness. The U.S. Latino/Latina literature has very recently begun to address directly, and challenge, the element of surprise associated with the discovery of Chinese Cubans. The discussion examines two Cuban American novels, Monkey Hunting and Days of Awe, by Cristina Garcia and Achy Obejas respectively, against the backdrop of Cuban exile narratives that have posited a singular, white, and Catholic national identity for Cuba.

In the 1960s Cubans moved back and forth between Cuba and the United States, but even when they did not, the flow of ideas, histories, and debates about race shaped how Cubans, Cuban Americans, and African Americans understood race and revolution. Chapter 3 explores three parallel forces that defined the role race played in the Cuban diaspora: 1) the influences the campaign to eliminate racial discrimination had on Cuban decisions to go to the United States; 2) the movement of racial rhetoric between Cuba and southern Florida; and 3) the similar but divergent ways that Afro-Cubans experienced exile. Importantly, this chapter uses oral histories to examine how Afro-Cuban exiles struggled to create a safe space for their families in Cuba or southern Florida—a situation that led many of them to relocate to northern U.S. cities instead of Miami.

Art historian Lynette M. F. Bosch concentrates on the first generation of postrevolutionary exile artists, which she calls the “Cuban-American Exile Vanguardia,” who arrived in the United States between 1959 and 1980. Bosch emphasizes that many members of this diasporic generation explore “identity, hybridity, transnationalism, and the emotional and experiential territory of exile.” She also argues that these artists recast traditional notions of lo cubano (Cubanness) as lo cubanoamericano (Cuban-Americanness) through visual representations of “life on the hyphen,” that is, the blending of Cuban and American cultural practices. Examples of these hybrid exile artists include Humberto Calzada, Jake Fernandez, and Arturo Rodríguez.

Chapter Four explores the origins of the Antonio Maceo Brigade, an organization composed of Cuban American students and intellectuals who broke with the anticommunism of their parent’s generation to seek reconciliation with the Cuban government, the reunification of the Cuban diaspora, and the normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations. Shaped by experiences in the Civil Rights and anti–Vietnam War movements, these émigré youth rejected the anti-Castro rhetoric of Cuban exile communities, provoking a campaign of intimidation and terrorism by rightwing Cuban American hardliners. Members of the Brigade traveled to Cuba to reunite with family, learn about the Cuban Revolution’s social achievements, and perform volunteer labor. In the brief warming of diplomatic relations encouraged by the Jimmy Carter administration, visits to Cuba by progressive Cuban Americans helped catalyze a shift in the Cuban government’s relations with the Cuban diaspora, initiating an unprecedented space for Cuban American leftwing politics.

Chapter two analyzes the coverage of the 1980 Mariel boatlift in the Spanish language El Miami Herald newspaper. Stigmatized as criminals in the mainstream press, the Marielitos were younger, poorer, and “blacker” than were Cubans from previous immigration waves. Examining the dilemmas faced by established Cuban exiles, who during the Cold War desired to both support their new compatriots and escape the Marielito stigma, the chapter argues that white dominant tropes about laziness, dependency, and criminality were utilized by Cuban voices to set themselves apart from black or “unworthy” migrants. Juxtaposing the newspaper discourse and Afro-Cuban testimonials, the chapter illustrates how racist attitudes from Cuba and the United States intersected to impact their acceptance by the local (white) Cuban community. The chapter underscores the crucial role blackness played in the Mariel stigma, and illustrates the continued utility of anti-black racializing discourses in current notions of “worthy citizenship.”

This chapter traces the U.S.-Cuban cooperative efforts which paved the way for the 1994–1995 migration agreements that radically changed and redefined the U.S. immigration policy towards Cuban exiles. This chapter discusses the four major waves of postrevolutionary migrations from Cuba to the United States. It also includes an analysis of the political and economic factors that gave rise to the migration of Cubans to the U.S. In this chapter, the focus is on the evolution of the 1994–95 U.S.-Cuban migration agreements and examines why the U.S. and Cuba exhibited cooperation and mutual interests in curbing illegal migration despite having a history of hostility towards each other. The chapter also includes an update on how the George W. Bush administration faced the issues of U.S-Cuban migration agreements.

The third chapter describes the history of Cuban politics in the United States, their recent transformations, and how they have impacted musical production and interaction. The politics and musical prominence of Cuban exiles in Miami has resulted in a range of reactions to Cuban musicians in South Florida ranging from controversy to acceptance. Divisive Florida performances are contrasted with appearances by Cuban artists elsewhere in the country. The National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba’s first tour of the United States in 2012 featured a range of repertoire by Cuban artists, European romantic composers, Gershwin, and more that represented a call for increased US-Cuban musical interaction.

This chapter turns to Miami and discusses the role of Cubans and Cuban popular culture in the city. It examines the social clubs Círculo Cubano and Juventud Cubana, and the nightclubs Tropicana and Barra Guys and Dolls, whose events and activities illustrate the early emergence of “Cuban Miami” in the context of the ideology and racialized practices of Pan-Americanism, and against the backdrop of the Cuban Revolution. Through the Spanish-language press, the Cuban groups in the city also demonstrated an early instance of pan-Lantino/a unity in the struggle for social justice. During their stay in Miami, many black Cuban artists found themselves in a Jim Crow city that was protective of its black-white model of racial classification but inconsistent in its treatment and categorization of Cubans and Latino/as of color.

This chapter tracks the flow of hard currency reaching Cuba from the United States in order to provide evidence of the importance for the Cuban economy of activities carried out by U.S. citizens and firms. More specifically, it analyzes the presence of U.S. visitors on the island, the flow of remittances from Cuban exiles, payments to the Cuban government by American carriers for telecommunications services, and U.S. investments in foreign companies that operate in the Cuban market. It also examines U.S. food sales to Havana and other recent developments.