View source for Cuban migration to Miami

{{Short description|Aspect of Cuban-American history}}
{{About||the general history of Cubans in the United States|Cuban immigration to the United States}}
[[File:Census Bureau 2000, Cubans in the United States.png|right|300px|thumb|The 2000 U.S. census data on the Cuban population in the United States.]]
{{Florida History Navbar}}
Cuban immigration has greatly affected [[Miami-Dade County]] since 1959, creating what is known as "Cuban Miami." However, Miami reflects global trends as well, such as the growing trends of [[multiculturalism]] and [[multiracialism]]; this reflects the way in which international politics shape local communities.<ref name=stack>{{Citation | last = Stack| first = John F. Jr. | title = The Ethnic Citizen Confronts the Future: Los Angeles and Miami at Century's Turn | journal = The Pacific Historical Review | volume =68| pages =309–316 | year = 1999 | issue = 2 | doi=10.2307/3641990| jstor = 3641990 }}</ref>

About 500,000 Cubans, many of them businessmen and professionals, arrived in Miami during a 15-year period after the 1959 [[Cuban Revolution]]. Some figures in [[Fulgencio Batista]]'s administration were among those who arrived in Miami. The Miami Cubans received assimilation aid from the federal government. The Cubans established businesses in Miami. The Cubans arriving after 1980 did so primarily because of economic reasons.<ref name=Economist/>
In 1960, the Hispanic population in Miami was 50,000; in 1980, the Hispanic population grew to 580,000. Cubans were the main source of this Hispanic growth in the city, as many Cubans came to Miami at the time due to Cuba's poor economy and a high poverty rate, as well as the dictatorship of Fidel Castro at the time.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Transforming a City {{!}} Puerto Rican/Cuban {{!}} Immigration and Relocation in U.S. History {{!}} Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress {{!}} Library of Congress |url=https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/immigration/puerto-rican-cuban/transforming-a-city/ |access-date=2023-06-13 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}}</ref> 
Essentially, the coexistence of growth and internationalization within Miami-Dade County has perpetuated an ethnically driven social polarization.<ref name=nijman>{{Citation | last = Nijman| first = Jan | title = Globalization to a Latin Beat: The Miami Growth Machine | journal = Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science | volume =551 | issue = 1| pages =164–177 | year = 1997 | doi = 10.1177/0002716297551001012| s2cid = 154895047 }}</ref> The growing number of [[Cubans]] in the county have remained loyal to their cultural norms, mores, customs, language, and religious affiliations. The transnational force of immigration defines Miami as a growing [[metropolis]], and the 20th century Cuban influx has greatly affected Miami's growth.<ref name=stack/>

As of 2012, there were 1.2 million people of Cuban heritage in [[Miami metropolitan area|Greater Miami]], most of whom lived in Miami-Dade County. As of that year, about 400,000 had arrived after 1980.<ref name=Economist>"[http://www.economist.com/node/21550419 Cuban-Americans The Miami mirror]." ''[[The Economist]]''. March 24, 2012. Retrieved on February 8, 2014.</ref> In a 2022 estimate, Greater Miami, showed a slight decrease to about 1,112,592.<ref>https://data.census.gov/table?q=B03001:+HISPANIC+OR+LATINO+ORIGIN+BY+SPECIFIC+ORIGIN&g=310XX00US33100 {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}</ref> As of the 2020 census, there were 129,896 Cuban Americans living inside Miami city limits, representing about 29.3% of Miami and nearly half of the city's Hispanic/Latino population.<ref>https://data.census.gov/table?t=403:4036&g=160XX00US1245000&d=DEC+Detailed+Demographic+and+Housing+Characteristics+File+A {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}</ref> Many Miami suburbs like [[Hialeah, Florida|Hialeah]], and many others especially in southern Miami-Dade county, are majority Cuban.

== History ==
[[File:Cuban Refugees Arriving in Florida.png|right|270px|thumb|Chart showing history of Cuban refugees arriving in Florida.]]

=== Early migration (1800s - 1958) ===
Due to Miami's geographic proximity to Cuba it served as an easy location to migrate to for Cubans who were dissatisfied with poverty, or the various military dictatorships in Cuba. Many affluent Cuban families also sent their children to school in the United States, usually in Miami. Various Cuban political leaders used Miami as a base of operations to organize against the [[Fulgencio Batista]] regime.<ref name=Miami>{{Cite book|title=Cuban Miami|last1=Levine|first1=Robert|last2=Asis|first2=Moises|publisher=Rutgers University Press|year=2000|isbn=9780813527802|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c-Xd8-WKaDQC&q=cuban+miami&pg=PP15}}</ref>

By 1958 only about 10,000 Cubans lived in Miami, although affluent Cubans would often visit Miami for tourism and shopping. The tourist industry in Miami catered to Cuban visitors and tried to offer as many services in Spanish as possible.<ref name=Miami />

=== First wave of Cuban exiles (1959–1973) ===
{{Further|Cuban exile}}
After the [[Cuban Revolution]] of 1959 large numbers of Cubans began to emigrate. Cubans settled in various places around the United States, but the majority settled in Miami-Dade County due to its proximity to Cuba and the Cuban community already present in the area. Many settled in the Miami neighborhood of [[Little Havana]] and the suburb of [[Hialeah]], where they found cheap housing, new jobs, and access to Spanish-speaking businesses.<ref name=HavanaUSA>{{Cite book|title=Havana USA: Cuban Exiles and Cuban Americans in South Florida, 1959-1994|last1=Garcia|first1=Maria|publisher=University of California Press|year=1996|isbn=9780520919990|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2EvTZIwh7sIC&q=white+flight&pg=PR9}}</ref>

As Cubans became more settled in Miami-Dade County, more businesses and media outlets began catering to Spanish speaking audiences. Large numbers of non-Hispanic residents began to leave the county in a case of [[white flight]], with many of them moving to [[Broward County]] and [[Palm Beach County]].<ref name=HavanaUSA />

Cuban immigration greatly affected Miami's future demographics. For example, the net immigration of African Americans into Miami was reduced during the 1960s in comparison to previous years.<ref name=winsberg2/>  This was the result of Cuban immigrants competing for jobs that had often been afforded to African Americans living in Miami.  This reduction of immigration of non-Hispanics displayed the growing presence of Cubans in Miami.  Miami "posts a low [[emigration]] rate-43.6 per 1,000. This, of course, stems from the huge Cuban presence in Dade County and is testimony to the holding power of the Cuban enclave in Miami".<ref name=McHugh>{{Citation | last = Skop | first = Emily H | title = The Magnetism of Miami: Segmented Paths in Cuban Migration | journal = Geographical Review | volume =87 | pages =504–519 | year = 1997 | doi = 10.2307/215228 | jstor = 215228 | author2 = Miyares, Ines M | author3 = Skop, Emily H | issue = 4 | publisher = American Geographical Society| bibcode = 1997GeoRv..87..504M }}</ref>

=== Later exiles and migrants (1974–present) ===
By 1980 many Cubans arrived in the [[United States]] due to the [[Mariel boatlift]]. But other Cubans already in the United States began to enter south Florida. Miami posted an in-migration of 35,776 Cubans from elsewhere in the United States between 1985 and 1990 and an emigration of 21,231, mostly to elsewhere in Florida. Flows to and from Miami account for 52 percent of all interregional migration in the Cuban settlement system". As of 2024, 60% of Miami- Dade County is estimated to be of Cuban origin.<ref name=McHugh/>

Cubans continued to come to the United States and specifically Miami-Dade County, especially during the [[1994 Cuban rafter crisis]] and beyond. As Cubans continued to immigrate and become more settled in American society, many Cuban owned businesses began to prosper in the Miami area.<ref name=HavanaUSA />

The population of Cuban Americans has experienced a surge in growth once again with the arrival of the [[2021–2023 Cuban migration crisis|2021–23 Cuban migration wave to the United States]], where Cubans were intercepted at the Southern border over 300 thousand times.

== Culture ==
{{See also|Culture of Cuba}}
[[File:LittleHavanOct06BayOfPigsMonument.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The [[Bay of Pigs Invasion|Bay of Pigs]] Memorial in [[Little Havana]], [[Miami]]]]

=== Language ===
{{Further|Cuban Spanish|Cubonics}}
With the emerging importance of ethnicity and the increased effects of segregation, Cubans within Miami attempted to maintain their [[Spanish language]].  In Miami, the Spanish language was spoken to a larger extent than in other cities with large [[Hispanic]] populations; also it was spoken in more diverse settings in Miami than any other city.<ref name=stack/> The 1970 census revealed that Spanish speakers made up 24 percent of Miami's population.<ref name=winsberg2>Winsberg, Morton D. (1979), "Housing Segregation of a Predominantly Middle Class Population: Residential Patterns Developed by the Cuban Immigration into Miami, 1950-74", American Journal of Economics and Sociology, '''38'''.  403-418</ref>  The Spanish language was becoming a norm in Miami as it was more extensively spoken by Miami's Cuban elite.<ref name=stack/>  Language became increasingly important in 20th-century Miami as a result of the Cuban influx and this had impacts on the non-Hispanic population.   
 
Non-Hispanic communities began to oppose the rise of the Spanish language as a growing force within Miami.  This can be seen in the anti-bilingualism/English Only movement. This movement came about in 1980, after a long period of vast Cuban immigration and social reform. Language was becoming a pressing issue as "Miami had the first [[bilingual]] public school program in the modern period (1963) and the first English Only referendum (1980)".<ref name=castro>Castro, Max, J. (1992), "The Politics of Language in Miami", Miami Now: Immigration, Ethnicity, and Social Change (University Press of Florida): 109-133</ref>  In fact the debates of English as Dade County's official language led to violent and dangerous riots in the 1980s.<ref name=croucher>Croucher, Sheila, L. (1999), "Ethnic Inventions: Constructing and Deconstructing Miami's Culture Clash", The Pacific Historical Review, '''68''': 233-251</ref> Cubans felt that by preserving their language, they were preserving a fundamental component of their culture. In the [[2000 United States Census|2000 census]], 59.2% of people in [[Miami-Dade County]] said that they spoke Spanish at home.<ref>[http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_bm=y&-qr_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U_DP2&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U&-_lang=en&-_sse=on&-geo_id=05000US12086 2000 US Census] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20200212042250/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_bm=y&-qr_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U_DP2&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U&-_lang=en&-_sse=on&-geo_id=05000US12086 |date=2020-02-12 }} Profile of selected social characteristics for Miami-Dade County</ref>

=== Media ===
Although the media in Miami allows a certain amount of cultural labeling to flourish within the community, it also portrays the growing importance and domination of Cuban immigrants.  For example, the Miami Herald's June 14, 1996, headline reads "Vanishing Spanish".<ref name=nijman/>  The headline refers to, and deplores the fact that, only a small percentage of recent high school graduates were fluent in Spanish; whereas the majority of second-generation Cuban immigrants spoke broken Spanish, and only spoke it in the home.<ref name=nijman/>  "This was described as an alarming trend since it erodes Miami's advantage as a bilingual community and diminishes its economic competitiveness".<ref name=nijman/>
During the 20th century, many Spanish-language newspapers were founded in Miami.  "The [[Miami Herald]] created a Spanish-language insert, ''[[el Nuevo Herald]]'', in 1976".<ref name=huntz>Huntz, Maura E. (1996), "Spanish-Language Newspapers in the United States", Geographical Review, '''86''': 446-456</ref>  This addition received a vast amount of support and "by 1981 circulation reached 83,000 on weekdays and 94,000 for weekend editions. ''el Nuevo Herald'' is now published as an independent newspaper and reports a weekday circulation of about 100,000. It too is accessible on the World Wide Web (http://www.elnuevoherald.com). As the Hispanic population has grown and achieved considerable economic success, it has also moved beyond Miami's city limits: Spanish-language newspapers are now published in adjacent [[Hialeah]] and [[Fort Lauderdale]]. This expansion can be seen at a statewide level as well, for [[Tampa]], [[Orlando, Florida|Orlando]], and [[Immokalee]] each have Spanish-language newspapers".<ref name=huntz/>
Essentially, through the founding and growth of distinctly Hispanic newspapers, Cuban immigrants established a distinctly Latin American media.

===Politics===
{{See also|2020 United States presidential election in Florida}}
The Cubans arriving after 1980 have closer ties to those remaining in Cuba. They tend to take charter flights to and from Miami to Cuba.<ref name=Economist/>

In 2016 Hillary Clinton performed better than Obama in several heavily Cuban American neighborhoods.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Klas|first1=Mary Ellen |last2=Mazzei|first2=Patricia |url=https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/election/article121426379.html|title=Was vote by Miami's Cuban community a referendum on Obama's policy? |newspaper=[[Miami Herald]]|date=2016-12-16|accessdate=2021-02-06}}</ref>

In Miami-Dade County, in the 2020 election, Cuban Americans tended to vote for [[Donald Trump]] in spite of rhetoric perceived as offensive to Latin Americans.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Viteri|first1=Amy|last2=Torres|first2=Andrea|url=https://www.local10.com/vote-2020/2020/11/07/miami-dade-countys-cultural-east-west-divide-defines-election-outcome/|title=Presidential election: Here is why eastern Miami-Dade is celebrating and western Miami-Dade is not |publisher=Local 10 Miami|date=2020-11-06|access-date=2020-11-08}}</ref> Residents of Cuban descent often had an antagonism against progressive movements due to a perceived association with the socialist politics of [[Fidel Castro]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.miami.edu/stories/2020/10/cuban-americans-show-strong-support-for-trump.html|title=Cuban Americans show strong support for Trump |publisher=[[University of Miami]]|date=October 2020|access-date=2020-11-08}}</ref> Trump sought to attract these voters by implementing anti-Cuba policies.<ref>{{cite web|last=Gomez Licon|first=Adriana|url=https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-race-and-ethnicity-virus-outbreak-cuba-miami-28275a9dfdc5ac61dcb6cbea04504685|title=With salsa, caravans, Cubans make last push to reelect Trump|work=[[Associated Press]]|date=2020-10-30|access-date=2020-11-08}}<!--Spanish version if this is translated: https://apnews.com/article/noticias-3160151a27e6dffcc6403a361ce49b72 --></ref> The courting of Miami Cubans, including those who had recently arrived in the U.S. and those who are of younger demographics, contributed to Trump taking Florida's electoral votes.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/04/biden-miami-cubans-election-2020-433999|title=How Miami Cubans disrupted Biden's path to a Florida win |work=[[Politico]]|date=2020-11-04|access-date=2020-11-08}}</ref> Miami-Dade County nevertheless voted for Joe Biden, but the margin of victory for the Democrats was lower than in the previous few election cycles.<ref>{{cite web|last=Ceballos|first=Joshua|url=https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/how-trump-made-gains-with-miami-cubans-and-latino-voters-11724439|title=Experts Weigh in on Miami-Dade's Role in Trump's Florida Victory|newspaper=[[Miami New Times]]|date=2020-11-05|access-date=2020-11-08}}</ref>

===Parks and recreation===
As common meeting places, several parks in the greater Miami area reflect the influence of Cuban migration to the community and nod to Cuban culture.

Starting in the early 1970s, community leader and urban planner [[Jesús Permuy]] spearheaded the effort to designate a park for the Cuban exile community.<ref>Ed Taylor, "Miami OKs 'Latin' Park Site", ''The Miami News'' (April 27, 1973), p. 16A.</ref> The sometimes controversial proposed park was known for much of the almost ten-year effort simply as the "Latin Park," and faced some pushback from non-Cuban residents. The park was unanimously approved by the Miami City Commission, however, and finally opened in 1980<ref>{{cite news|author1=Eric Rieder|title=Design Chosen for Latin Park|url=https://miamiherald.newsbank.com/doc/image/v2:114CF48AE24B9638@NGPA-FLMH-160193CC605D5443@2444251-16014D11F6156736@3-16014D11F6156736@?search_terms=Jesus+Permuy&text=Jesus_Permuy&pub%5B0%5D=114CF48AE24B9638&page=1|access-date=October 8, 2018|work=The Miami Herald|date=January 12, 1980|pages=2B}}{{Dead link|date=May 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> as [https://www.miamigov.com/Residents/Parks-and-Recreation/Parks-Directory/Jose-Marti-Park José Martí Park] in honor of Cuban icon [[José Martí]].

== See also ==
{{Portal|Florida|Cuba}}
*[[Operation Peter Pan]], 1960–1962
*[[Hispanic and Latino Americans in Florida]]
*[[Immigration to the United States]]
*[[El Nuevo Herald#History|''El Nuevo Herald'']], a Spanish-language supplement to ''The Miami Herald''
*[[Wet feet, dry feet policy]]
*[[Cuban-American lobby]]
*[[Floridanos]]

{{Clear}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Arboleya, Jesús. ''Havana-Miami: The U.S.-Cuba Migration Conflict''. [[Ocean Press]], 1996. {{ISBN|978-1875284917}}
* De La Torre, Miguel A. ''La Lucha for Cuba: Religion and Politics on the Streets of Miami''. [[University of California Press]], 2003. {{ISBN| 978-0520238527}}
* {{cite book |last1=Didion |first1=Joan |author-link=Joan Didion |title=Miami |title-link=Miami (book) |date=1987 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-0671646646}}
* [[Robert M. Levine|Levine, Robert M.]] and Moisés Asís. ''Cuban Miami''. [[Rutgers University Press]], 2000. {{ISBN|978-0813527802}}
* {{cite book |last1=Rieff |first1=David |author-link=David Rieff |title=The Exile: Cuba in the Heart of Miami |date=1993 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-1439143704}}

{{Miami}}
{{Cuba-United States relations}}
{{Immigration to the United States}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuban Migration To Miami}}
[[Category:Cuban-American culture in Miami| ]]
[[Category:Cuban emigrants to the United States|Miami]]
[[Category:Hispanic and Latino American culture in Miami]]
[[Category:History of Miami]]
[[Category:Cuban-American history]]
[[Category:Cuban refugees]]