US History

Postwar United States (1945 to early 1970s)

Latino Americans

Migration

This collection uses primary sources to explore Cuban immigration to the United States after the Cuban Revolution in 1959.

A clip from a 1963 film, *Cuba: World Verdict*, produced by the US Information Agency about early responses to the 1959 Cuban Revolution.

This film shows reactions from across the world as well as footage from the earliest days of the Cuban Revolution. Since July 1953, Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement and its allies had been engaged in an armed revolt against the authoritarian government of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista. On January 1, 1959, Castro and his forces prevailed, unseating Batista who fled to the Dominican Republic by plane. Castro’s Revolution promoted Cuban nationalism and socialism. 

A news clip of a Cuban official discussing his changing opinions of Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution, October 25, 1960.

In this news interview from WSB-TV, an unnamed Cuban official contrasts Castro’s initial promises with his increasingly communist politics and allies. He describes plans for an anti-communist counterrevolution in Cuba and discusses Cuban exiles in the United States. In the first years of the Castro government, many Cuban exiles believed their residence in the United States was temporary because they believed Castro would soon be overthrown.

A pamphlet entitled “Castro Admits Cuba is Communist,” published by the Truth About Cuba Committee, December 1961.

The Truth About Cuba Committee was a non-profit organization established by Cuban exiles in Miami in 1961. Their mission was to educate Americans and fellow refugees about communist Cuba and its role in promoting communism throughout Latin America. They published bulletins and reports like this one to draw attention to Castro’s communist activities in Cuba. Castro’s 26th of July Movement did not formally become the Communist Party until October 1965.

A script from a news story about four Cuban refugees in Fort Worth, Texas that aired on December 21, 1961.

This news segment discusses the journey of brothers Ignacio and Vicente Perez, Louis Canizares, and Jose Gonzales from Cuba to Fort Worth, Texas. During the 1960s, Cubans traveled by both plane and boat to South Florida in response to the policies taking shape in the new Castro government.

A Pan American Airlines ticket for Margarita Lora, who left Cuba as part of Operation Pedro Pan in August 14, 1961.

Operation Pedro Pan was a program that airlifted over 14,000 unaccompanied Cuban children from Havana to the United States between 1960 and 1962. After the Cuban Revolution, some Cuban parents feared for their children's futures under the new Communist regime. They entrusted the Catholic Church, aid societies, and the US State Department to connect their children with awaiting relatives and friends in the United States. Some were cared for by the Catholic Welfare Bureau and placed in temporary shelters in Miami before being relocated to foster families in thirty different states until the families could be reunited. This Pan American passenger ticket was used by eight-year-old Margarita Lora when she left Cuba for Miami, Florida on August 14, 1961, as part of Operation Pedro Pan. The passenger name on the ticket is Elia M. Prats Martinez, Lora’s name before marriage. (The M stands for Margarita.) She ended up in foster care for four years with her sister and two brothers, in Syracuse, New York, until her parents arrived in the US in 1965.

A translated excerpt from a 2008 interview with Cuban Albertina O’Farrill who worked for refugee initiatives including Operation Pedro Pan.

Albertina O’Farrill was a Cuban ambassador’s wife who used her diplomatic connections to help Cubans flee the island after the Cuban Revolution of 1959. O’Farrill also worked with Mongo and Polita Grau to get unaccompanied children out of Cuba through what became known as Operation Pedro Pan. Her counterrevolutionary activities led to her arrest in 1965, and she was a political prisoner for fourteen years. The original interview is in Spanish.

Interview transcription in the original Spanish:

[page 55]				
**JE**: Ya va, le pregunto de nuevo. No, empiece, OK— Albertina, cuéntenos un poquito entre las actividades que usted realizaba allí estuvo también su participación en la operación Pedro Pan, ¿cómo fue aquello? 
**AO**: Bueno, nosotros comenzamos como si fuera éxodo. Empezaron, cuando empezaron a decir que iban a quitar la patria potestad de los niños, que empezaron a sacar los colegios católicos todos los colegios católicos. Pero de todas maneras algunos venían para acá con sus padres, porque cuando los padres venían para acá pero otros se tenían que quedar en Cuba porque no tenían forma de, de salir. Nosotros empezamos a sacar a las personas que no tenían familiares, o sea, personas que se sacaban, iban a diferentes lugares... 
**JE**: A los niños. 
**AO**: Sí, a los niños. Y a—Salió el... salió todo el grupo este. 
**JE**: ¿Y por qué salieron los niños y no los padres con ellos? 
AO: Porque los padres se quedaban en Cuba pensando, yo no sé lo que ellos pensaban, pero, además, no dejaban, muchos de los padres tenían trabajos que no los dejaban salir. Acuérdate de, de esa temporada. Y entonces los niños se mandaban para acá para que pudieran, no los cogieran. 
**JE**: Sí. 
**AO** Así fue como comenzó la operación. Pero ya después fue diferente. Ya entonces ya después lo cogieron como una parte de, no solamente de política sino para poder salir, porque no les daban la salida en Cuba. Por ejemplo, cuando había médicos, cuando habían abogados, no les daban la salida y entonces nosotros a través de la operación Pedro Pan los metíamos como si tuvieran menos de 18 años, y salían como si venían para el colegio con la autorización del gobierno americano y de la CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] y del FBI [Federal Bureau of 
					
[page 56] 
Investigation] y de cuantas cosas había, que era después, ya, ya había ya había pasado el desembarco de Girón, ya todo esto había pasado, ya era... 
**JE**: Sí. 
**AO** Todo es pasado. Ya era otra cosa. 
**JE**: ¿Tenía usted algún contacto directo con los americanos o...? 
**AO** Ah, sí, con la embajada. Por supuesto. Esa la tenía de toda la vida porque como te vengo diciendo... 
**JE**:Claro. 
**AO** Smith era íntimo amigo nuestro. 
**JE**: ¿El embajador Smith? 
**AO** El embajador Smith. La primera persona que le dijo a Smith el desastre que era la, la Sierra, porque ellos al principio llegaron mal influenciados, porque había gente de sociedad allá que empezaron a decirle que era una maravilla, que la Sierra Maestra, que esto y que lo otro, y desde el primer momento [apunta con el dedo para da énfasis] que ya habían pasado varios actos como te estoy explicando, todo el mundo estaba fascinado, pensando que Fidel y que toda esta gente eran los salvadores del mundo. 
**JE**: ¿Y cuando usted hacía esto, Albertina, porque tantas cosas han dicho, la propaganda comunista, cuando usted hacía esto con los niños y los sacaba y todo, usted se sentía que usted estaba trabajando para el gobierno de los Estados Unidos o usted se sentía que usted lo hacía porque creía que era lo que había que hacer en beneficio de aquellos niños? 
**AO**Yo, yo creía que era lo que debía hacer en beneficio de los Estados Unidos. Si eran los Estados Unidos quienes nos ayudaban, eran ellos. Por supuesto que no iba a aceptar la ayuda rusa, o sea, era la ayuda americana la que en aquellos momentos...
							
[page 57] 
**JE**: O sea, pero, ¿usted lo hacía por los Estados Unidos o lo hacía por aquellos niños cubanos? AO: Lo hacía por los niños cubanos. ¿Qué voy a hacer yo si los Estados Unidos estaban encantados de la vida todos libres y los niños aquí haciendo lo que les daba la gana y yendo a Cuba inclusive, iban a cortar caña y hacían de cuanto hay, aquella época acuérdate que era muy confusiva (ph), o sea, tú, tú, tú no sabías dónde estaba la cosa. 
**JE**: Claro. ¿Y por qué cree usted que pudieron sacar tantos niños de Cuba sin que los descubrieran? 
**AO**Bueno, para mí eso sí se le debe a los americanos. Porque ellos dieron todas las facilidades, dieron todos los pasaportes, dieron todas las cosas. La Iglesia Católica ayudó muchísimo en eso: Monseñor... 
**JE**:¿Walsh? 
**AO**[Bryan] Walsh, ayudó muchísimo, y ayudó muchísimo el padre O’Farrill, todos ellos, todos ellos ayudaron, ahí y o sea, y maestros, yo te digo a ti, empezaron, por los colegios y entonces fue una cosa que fue un movimiento. En el Yacht Club estaba gente. Lourdes Romero iba allá iba y sacaba gente, entonces empezamos así a sacar y fue creciendo la operación, fueron miles de miles de miles... 
**JE**: 14.000 niños. 
**AO**Eran, te mandaban quinientos papeles. Y te decían: “Esto. Oye, por favor, consígueme quinientos papeles.” Y se traían. Y aquí se ponía una cosa que decía “sí” o “no.” Y los pasaportes, lo mismo, que estaban vencidos, casi todos nosotros vinimos pa’ acá con nuestros pasaportes antiguos, como te digo, tú llegabas al aeropuerto aquí y lo ponían, entonces después lo volvían entonces a mandar para Cuba, ya esa parte estuvo involucrada por completo la		
					
[page 58] 
embajada americana, ahora, lo hacía no, no por ellos [se ríe] lo hacía por nosotros que estaba yo salvando, yo no estaba salvando americanos, estaba salvando a cubanos. 
**JE**: Cuéntenos ahora del arresto. ¿Cómo se produce su arresto? 
**AO**Bueno, yo, parece, desde que, desde que, desde el Ministerio, como yo te conté, ya yo tenía, me tenían puesto el ojo a mí porque, primero que nada, por lo que representaba, la clase, a mí fue verdaderamente contra mi clase. O sea, ellos, para ellos yo representaba una clase tabú. Contraria a todas las cosas de ellos: católica apostólica y romana, o sea, yo no era de las que te decía, respetaba a cada uno su pensamiento, pero yo era de las católicas, ya te digo a ti que creía en todo las cosas de la religión católica, o sea, yo, tenían mil cosas en contra mía, yo era una persona que le fui sospechosa desde el primer momento. Ahora, no me podían, como no me habían cogido en hacer nada... tampoco me podían coger. 
**JE**: Claro. 
**AO**Pero cuando cae la causa nuestra, ahí es donde se forma, porque tenían, a Mongo le cogen, la lista de todos los que trabajaban para ellos. 
**JE**: O sea, prenden primero a Mongo Grau y a Polita. 
**AO**Exactamente. 
**JE**:Y cogen la documentación... 
**AO**Donde, donde yo aparezco con cinco nombres diferentes: Fidelina, se traían de burla por mí por lo fiel que yo le era a mi marido, porque como yo te estoy diciendo, yo hablaba con todo el mundo y mucha conversación, pero nunca jamás en mi vida para mí existía más hombre que mi marido.

A photograph of the Cuban refugee Sanz family at home in Van Nuys, California, October 2, 1962.

This edited photograph captures Mr. and Mrs. Sanz reading a newspaper and Mrs. Sanz's daughters from another marriage, Lucia and Leonor Daley, looking on. It was originally published in the *Valley Times* with an article titled “Family Bares Castro Ordeal” that partially reads: "Members of the Sanz family no longer live in Cuba. They left their country more than a year ago—their home in Havana, their coffee plantations in Oriente Province, their personal and business possessions, their friends and relations. Most members of the family now live in a Van Nuys apartment… 'They took everything from us. It is all gone with the wind,' Enrique Sanz, a 40-year-old civil engineer, said… 'Castro split the Cuban society by forcing the rich to fight the poor, the worker to fight the manufacturer, the resident to fight the owner. That is the way they will continue to work. And they will take over everything unless the United States stops them—and soon.'" 

An excerpt from a US Senate subcommittee hearing on “Cuban Refugee Problems” with testimony from Dr. José Miró Cardona, 1961.

During this US Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing to investigate new needs and challenges related to Cuban refugees, lawmakers heard a statement from Dr. José Miró Cardona. Cardona had briefly served as Prime Minister of Cuba in early 1959 under Castro before resigning and fleeing to the United States in the winter of 1960-61. In his testimony, Cardona outlines some of the specific circumstances surrounding Cuban immigration since the Revolution. 

A speech about Cuban refugees in Miami-Dade County to the Downtown Rotary Club by Marshall Wise of the US Cuban Refugee Center, May 2, 1963.

In this speech made to Miami’s Downtown Rotary Club on May 2, 1963, Director of the US Cuban Refugee Center Marshall Wise addresses the idea that the recent influx of Cuban exiles in Miami and Dade County constitutes a “powder keg” crisis.

An excerpt from a publication about the number of political prisoners in Cuba created by the Truth About Cuba Committee, April 1964.

The Truth About Cuba Committee was a non-profit organization established by Cuban exiles in Miami in 1961. Their mission was to educate Americans and fellow refugees about communist Cuba and its role in promoting communism throughout Latin America. They published bulletins and reports like this one to draw attention to the repressive activities of Castro’s government in Cuba. The first page of this publication is a map of prisons and concentration camps (described in Spanish), then the second and third pages list the numbers of men and women detained in various kinds of prisons in each Cuban province.

English translation of the text on the map:

Title: Cuba: Captive Island

"Nuestra Denuncia" box at top right: 
Our Complaint 
This map shows how our island has been turned into a huge political prison. The number of prisons and prisoners has been carefully ascertained by the commission for humane treatment of political prisoners in Cuba and the Cuban Commission for Human Rights. 

To this we must add 108 slave labor farms operated by the "recruits" for the new Compulsory Military Service.

This graphic has been prepared under the direction of Dr. Miguel A. Olba Benito, Secretary of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights, and Advisor in this matter of the Committee of Cuban Youth Organizations in Exile."

"Sumario Cuantitivo" box at top center: 
Quantitative summary of the Captivity of the Cuban people

12,000 executed on the walls 
100,000 political prisoners (70,000 in prisons and jails and 30,000 in concentration camps and farms) 
23 concentration camps scattered throughout the island 
56 prisons and jails and 9 state, criminal farms (See the reverse of this chart, list of 99 penal farms established after the preparation of this work). 
Half Million exiled Cubans 
Six million Cuban slaves on Captive Island

A photograph of Cuban refugees arriving in Miami on a Freedom Flight.

This photograph captures the arrival and reception of Cuban refugees on a Freedom Flight. The Freedom Flights were an unusual instance of cooperation between the US and Cuban governments. During the Camarioca boatlift in 1965, Castro opened up the Cuban port of Camarioca for the departure of Cubans with relatives in the US (excluding men of military age). The number of boats and fleeing Cubans was so great that the boatlift overwhelmed the US Coast Guard. In an effort to support refugees and quell chaos, the US agreed with Cuba to finance the Freedom Flights, which transported Cuban refugees with US relatives to Miami twice daily, five times per week between 1965 and 1973. The Freedom Flights would bring about 300,000 Cubans to the US and cost approximately twelve million dollars. Although Castro initially agreed to the program, Cubans who signed up faced harassment and humiliation before their departure and property confiscation after.

A photograph of a family reuniting at a Cuban refugee camp in Miami, Florida, 1966.

Through multiple avenues including the Freedom Flights, Cuban refugees arrived in Miami and received support from the federally-funded Cuban Refugee Program. Because the United States and Cuba had agreements about the reunification of relatives, people with family members already in the US were provided an easier path to flee from Cuba. Family reunification in Miami refugee camps, Cuban enclaves, and temporary residences was common.

A photograph of a Cuban American restaurant in Miami, Florida, 1966.

In the fifteen years following the Cuban Revolution, about 500,000 Cubans arrived in Miami. Most of these migrants were professionals and business people from the middle and upper classes, and many established businesses in Miami. These businesses were located directly west of Miami’s city center in neighborhoods such as Little Havana, where there was also a strong concentration of Cuban residents.

A 1969 photograph of a bust of José Martí in Union City, New Jersey.

This statue celebrates the life of José Martí, a nineteenth-century Cuban intellectual who became a national hero because of his activism and dedication to the cause of promoting Cuban independence from Spain. Although Cuban immigrants began to settle in Union City, New Jersey in the 1940s, the post-Revolution period saw a much larger influx of refugees directly from Cuba. Union City received the second largest number of Cubans after Miami in the 1960s and early 1970s, earning it the nickname “Havana on the Hudson.”

A map titled “Fidel Castro’s 10-year Reign in Cuba,” published by the Civil Education Service, 1969.

This map was developed by the Civil Education Service, “Publishers of Social Studies Materials for Classroom Use,” and intended for display on classroom walls to help US students learn about Cuba. The map includes geographical features of Cuba, along with photographs, narrative text, and map annotations that comment on Cuba under Castro’s leadership between 1959 and 1969.

Questions

1. Using evidence from the clip of *[Cuba: World Verdict](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/cuban-immigration-after-the-revolution-1959-1973/sources/1674)* and the [news clip of a Cuban official](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/cuban-immigration-after-the-revolution-1959-1973/sources/1675), how did Cubans and world leaders respond to Castro’s Cuban Revolution in its earliest days? How did they understand the Revolution in the context of Cuba’s history? 
2. According to the [news clip of a Cuban official](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/cuban-immigration-after-the-revolution-1959-1973/sources/1675) and the pamphlet “[Castro Admits Cuba is Communist](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/cuban-immigration-after-the-revolution-1959-1973/sources/1676),” why did international perception of the Cuban Revolution change after several months? How did the tensions of the Cold War period inform the way people saw the situation in Cuba? How did Cold War tensions impact Cuban immigration to the United States?
3. Compare and contrast the experience of the young men described in the [news story about four Cuban refugees](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/cuban-immigration-after-the-revolution-1959-1973/sources/1677) with the children of Operation Pedro Pan described in the [Pan American Airlines ticket for Margarita Lora](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/cuban-immigration-after-the-revolution-1959-1973/sources/1678) and the [interview with Albertina O’Farrill](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/cuban-immigration-after-the-revolution-1959-1973/sources/1679). 
4. According to [Albertina O’Farrill](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/cuban-immigration-after-the-revolution-1959-1973/sources/1679), what motivated Operation Pedro Pan? What were its goals and consequences? 
5. The pamphlet entitled “[Castro Admits Cuba is Communist](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/cuban-immigration-after-the-revolution-1959-1973/sources/1676),” [news story about four Cuban refugees](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/cuban-immigration-after-the-revolution-1959-1973/sources/1677), the [photograph of the Cuban refugee Sanz family](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/cuban-immigration-after-the-revolution-1959-1973/sources/1680), and the [photograph of a family reuniting at a Cuban refugee camp](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/cuban-immigration-after-the-revolution-1959-1973/sources/1685) were all published during the 1960s and circulated to members of the American public. What stories do they tell about Cuban refugees during this period? How might they have shaped American perceptions of both Castro’s Cuba and Cuban refugees?
6. Read the excerpt from a [US Senate subcommittee hearing on “Cuban Refugee Problems”](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/cuban-immigration-after-the-revolution-1959-1973/sources/1681) closely. Why did the US government provide so much asylum and support to Cubans fleeing Castro’s regime?  According to Dr. José Miró Cardona, what challenges were created by the influx of Cuban refugees by 1961?
7. Read [Marshall Wise’s speech about Cuban refugees](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/cuban-immigration-after-the-revolution-1959-1973/sources/1682) closely. Which specific community concerns about the growing number of Cuban refugees does Wise respond to? What is Wise’s argument and what evidence does he use to make it? How does it compare and contrast with the ideas expressed by Dr. José Miró Cardona in the excerpt from a [US Senate subcommittee hearing on “Cuban Refugee Problems”](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/cuban-immigration-after-the-revolution-1959-1973/sources/1681)?
8. The pamphlet “[Castro Admits Cuba is Communist](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/cuban-immigration-after-the-revolution-1959-1973/sources/1676),” and the [publication about political prisoners in Cuba](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/cuban-immigration-after-the-revolution-1959-1973/sources/1683) were produced by the Truth About Cuba Committee, a group of Cuban exiles in Miami. From these sources, what can you infer about the political ideas of this committee? Who was the audience for these publications and what kinds of support are they designed to garner? 
9. How do the photographs of [Cuban refugees arriving in Miami on a Freedom Flight](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/cuban-immigration-after-the-revolution-1959-1973/sources/1684) and [a family reuniting at a Cuban refugee camp](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/cuban-immigration-after-the-revolution-1959-1973/sources/1685) depict the experience of Cuban refugees in the United States in the mid-1960s? How do these ideas confirm or contradict the narratives from other sources in this set?
10. How did Cuban refugees impact the communities to which they moved, according to the photographs of [a Cuban American restaurant](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/cuban-immigration-after-the-revolution-1959-1973/sources/1686) and the [bust of José Martí in Union City, New Jersey](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/cuban-immigration-after-the-revolution-1959-1973/sources/1687)?

Activity

1. *Explore and annotate bias in a source:* Divide students into small groups to explore the map titled “[Fidel Castro’s 10-year Reign in Cuba](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/cuban-immigration-after-the-revolution-1959-1973/sources/1688),” a wall map of Cuba for the social studies classroom published in 1969. Ask each group to identify five features of the map that show bias that shaped social studies students’ perceptions of Cuba in the 1970s. For each of these features, students should create an annotation on the map (with post-it notes on a printed map or in a basic image editing program on a digital map) that highlight the feature, explain the bias, and indicate the perception it would help shape. Once all groups have identified five features and annotated them, each group should display their map and give a short presentation explaining their findings.
2. *Place events on a timeline:* Using the sources in this set, ask students to create a timeline of important events in this period of Cuban immigration to the United States, starting with the Cuban Revolution in 1959 and ending with the last Freedom Flights in 1973. Then ask students to research the Cuban Missile Crisis and place it on this timeline. Reflecting on the complete timeline, students should discuss the ways the Cuban Missile Crisis impacted Cuban immigration in a brief writing assignment, using sources from this set as evidence for their arguments.
3. *Research changes in Cuban immigration over time:* Independently or in small groups, students should conduct outside research in DPLA and other sources on one of two major events in Cuban immigration to the United States that occurred after the 1970s: the Mariel boatlift (1980) or the Elián González custody battle (1999-2000). Students should then compare the event they chose to 1960s Cuban immigration as depicted in the sources in this set by answering the following questions: Who were the Cuban refugees and why did they come? How were the refugees received by different members of the American public? What was the United States government’s attitude towards Cuba during this period expressed by federal policy and lawmakers? Students can present their findings in individual essays, graphic organizers designed to compare events, or short presentations.

Teaching Guide: Exploring Cuban Immigration After the Revolution

Resources

1. [Cuban Heritage Collection Digital Collections](https://merrick.library.miami.edu/digitalprojects/chc.php), University of Miami Libraries. 
2. “[The Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966: Past and Future,](http://media.law.miami.edu/faculty-administration/pdf/david-abraham/cuban-adj-act.pdf)” *Research Solutions*, May 2015. 
3. [The Cuban Experience in Florida: Revolution and Exodus](https://www.floridamemory.com/onlineclassroom/cuban-revolution/sets/manual/), Cuban Refugee Assistance Program in Florida, Florida Memory. 
4. “[Cuban Refugees in the United States](http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/exile/refugees.pdf),” *The International Migration Review*, Spring 1967.  
5. “[How Cuba Remembers Its Revolutionary Past and Present](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/cuba-remembers-revolutionary-past-present-180960447/),” *Smithsonian Magazine*, October 2016. 

Overview

At the end of a six-year armed conflict called the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement ousted Cuban President Fulgencio Batista on January 1, 1959, and ushered in a new government. Within months, as Castro began to implement policies and align with the communist Soviet Union, hundreds of thousands fled Cuba for the United States. Most were educated members of the upper and middle classes. Many of these immigrants, termed “exiles” and “refugees,” believed their stay in the United States was temporary because Castro’s government would be short-lived. As Castro’s regime persisted, they realized their flight could be permanent. Pushed out by the consequences of the Revolution, the influx of refugees swelled the Cuban population of the United States from 79,000 in 1960 to 439,000 by 1970. Cubans settled across the country, with the most significant community in Miami, Florida, followed by Union City, New Jersey.

The Cuban Revolution occurred during the Cold War—a period of post-World War II tension between the Eastern Bloc, led by the communist Soviet Union, and the Western Bloc, led by the democratic United States. Responding to Castro’s Cuba as a communist threat close to home, the US government offered Cuban exiles asylum, financial support, and pathways to permanent residency. The Cuban Refugee Program was created by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1960 and expanded by President John F. Kennedy through the “Migration and Refugee Assistance Act” in 1962. It provided financial assistance, health care, educational loans, resettlement, and care of unaccompanied children for the 1,500-2,000 Cubans arriving weekly. The United States also supported Cuban exodus programs: Operation Pedro Pan (1960-1962), which brought 14,000 unaccompanied children, and the Freedom Flights (1965-1973), during which the US negotiated with the Cuban government to allow relatives of Cuban refugees to relocate. In 1966, the Cuban Adjustment Act allowed Cuban refugees who came after the Revolution and had lived in the United States for two years to pursue permanent resident status. This primary source set explores the experiences of Cuban immigrants motivated by the Revolution—why they fled, how they arrived, and who supported and resisted their resettlement. 

English

Cuban Immigration After the Revolution, 1959-1973

https://d2jf00asb0fe6y.cloudfront.net/cuban-immigration_01_a3f773a8e8554fb7b52e679c6547b897.mp4

https://d2jf00asb0fe6y.cloudfront.net/cuban-immigration_01_a3f773a8e8554fb7b52e679c6547b897.webm

https://d2jf00asb0fe6y.cloudfront.net/cuban-immigration_01_a3f773a8e8554fb7b52e679c6547b897.ogg

Courtesy of National Records and Archives Administration.

U.S. Information Agency, “Cuba,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/a3f773a8e8554fb7b52e679c6547b897.

A clip from a 1963 film, Cuba: World Verdict, produced by the US Information Agency about early responses to the 1959 Cuban Revolution.

Cite this item

Tips for Students

Item 1 of 15 in the Primary Source Set Cuban Immigration After the Revolution, 1959-1973