Tension surfaced when six Cubans crashed a bus through the gate of the Peruvian embassy in Havana on April 1, 1980. The six Cubans demanded political asylum. Soon after rumor spread that whoever wanted to leave Cuba should go to the Peruvian embassy. Over the next couple days 10,000 Cubans entered into the embassy. Following the Embassy incident On April 20, 1980 the embarrassed Fidel Castro announced that any Cuban who wanted to leave to the United States could leave on a boat at the Port of Mariel granted that they…
The Cuban Embargo was enacted in 1960 to apply diplomatic and economic pressure on the Castro administration and Cuba. In the context of Cold War Cuba, as a communist country and ally of the USSR, they posed a large threat to the US being located a mere 90 miles off the coast of Florida. After 40 years of embargo, the measure became a dated relic from a bygone era. With Castro receding from power and cold war-era communist tensions less salient in the contemporary world, it was time that the embargo was lifted. At the July opening of the Cuban embassy in Washington, Secretary of State John Kerry said, "Nothing is more futile than trying to live in the past." (Orlando Sentinel) The US made the correct move…
Have you ever wondered the differences between Cuba and the United States? Many people know that Cuba and United State are two different countries, but they do not know how different they truly are. One might think that these two countries are very similar, as both are so close in the map of the Americas, but it is not as it seems and as everyone thinks. Once you live in both for a while, you start noticing huge differences. The aspects that have caused more controversy are the health system, the education system, and human rights, as there are many differences with respect to these issues in the two countries.…
Culture is a group which shapes a person's values and identity. A single term used to define a particular culture is often exclusive. For example, the term "Hispanic" does not take into account cultural differences between Cuban-Americans and Mexican-Americans. Cultural identities can stem from the following differences: race, ethnicity, gender, class, religion, country of origin, and geographic region.1 Nowadays, cultural conflict terms mention population a popular way.…
Cuba is less than 100 miles off the coast of Florida. A flight from Miami would take less than 30 minutes. However, that is not possible. If Americans want to travel to Cuba they need to either have a special visa or leave from another country, because regular flights between Cuba and the United States are non-existent. The US had many investments in Cuba when Fidel Castro and his guerrilla warfare took over Cuba in 1959. Therefore the U.S. was no longer able to steal from Cuba. The U.S. responded by imposing a partial trade embargo against Cuba on October 19th, 1960 (Simon 6). On February 3rd 1962 the US government declared a total embargo on the Republic of Cuba (Simons 6).…
Elian Gonzalez, a six-year-old boy, boarded a boat with his mother to leave Cuba and sail to the United States. During the passage, the boat capsized. Elian’s mother died, along with ten other passengers. Elian’s father was still in Cuba. After being admitted to a local hospital, Elian’s great-uncle Lazaro Gonzalez contacted the Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”). A few days later, Lazaro petitioned for asylum on Elian’s behalf. Not long after, another petition for asylum was filed, signed by Elian. A third request for asylum was then filed by Lazaro on Elian’s behalf after he was awarded temporary custody in a state court action. The three petitions were similar, citing that Elian was afraid to return to Cuba alleging persecution and the potential of being used as a propaganda tool for the Cuban government. Elian’s father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, had sent a letter to Cuban officials requesting that Elian be returned to Cuba. This letter was subsequently forwarded to the INS.…
Fidel Castro’s rule also played a big role in this mass immigration of Latinos to the United States.…
I was born in the United States, but my family migrated to the U.S. during the Mariel Boatlift in the 1980. On April 6th, 1980, my grandparents Luis and Lucia along with my mother Ivis, joined thousands of other Cubans in the Peruvian Embassy. There they demanded political asylum. They were in the open- air, without food or water, and, nowhere to stand or sit, for days that felt like years. Finally, an immigration plan was worked out amongst numerous governments, and on April 20, 1980, Fidel Castro, broadcasted that all Cubans who yearned to leave were freed.…
Despite the multiple guarantees of individual rights contained in the U.S. constitution, the right of U.S. nationals to travel abroad to countries of their choosing, and to learn from and associate with people of other nations, has repeatedly been restricted. The longest such restrictions have attempted to prevent average people from the U.S. to visit Cuba, since the triumph of the 1959 Cuban Revolution. This paper will present an overview of this legal situation, beginning with the treatment of this right by the U.S. courts. Part Two will summarize the recent (and continuing) system of restrictions on such travel. Part Three will briefly review the organizing and struggle to assert these travel rights, and Part Four will discuss the prospects for change under the current administration.…
The Cultural Sanctions and Restrictions of Cuban Americans is very important to be able to learn about their ways of life. Cuban Americans have their own restrictions just as any other cultural group. The authors of Politics, Values, and Religion tell that abortion is a very important social issue to discuss. While only a few Cuban Americans have restrictions on abortion, the other half does not. “More than half (51%) of adult Hispanics say abortion should be illegal in most or all cases, a share greater than that (41%) observed among the general public.”…
Since the end of the Mexican war, for one hundred years, Mexicans had to deal with discrimination. In the 1950’s Mexican Americans were considered second class citizens. There were theaters, swimming pools and even public parks that did not allow Mexican Americans and were segregated. I was very surprised when they said “public” parks were to be segregated, it is outrageous that Mexican Americans couldn’t go to the Public Park, it isn’t public if all certain people couldn’t go. In the early 20th century, Mexicans were considered “white”, by law treaty grant of America’s citizenship, but yet they were still known as second rate. Over 300,000 Mexicans served in the army to fight for America thinking they will receive the right as first class, returning home to the same treatment as before. Discrimination was so bad for the Hispanics that cemeteries were even segregated, in which many funeral parlors refused to prepare Mexican bodies for burials. For example, Private Felix Longoria died fighting in the war and was returned to his hometown only to be rejected by the only funeral parlor in town to hold a memorial service. After a public campaign Felix was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.…
The political history of USA has seen some of the biggest struggles to make the country open-minded towards the issues of race since the Civil War. For most of us present day America still remains segregated. Statistics have shown that the discrimination throughout history has been used in a direct behavior against African-American people. Discrimination is the overarching theme and factor in cases of education, the judicial system and the media portrayal of the race. This paper will examine the fact of continued discrimination exhibited in today’s world in relation to the plot of A Lesson Before Dying and how in fact discrimination plays a vital role in the decisions that majorly affect the African American race.…
In the United States, Mexican-American children are tormented by discrimination. Stories in Growing up Chicano/a described the struggles Mexican children faced on a daily basis. Gender roles and stereotypes restricted their identity and caused insecurity, which resulted in the loss of self-esteem and innocence. “The Scholarship Jacket”, “Eleven”, and “Juana Inez” each depict children affected by prejudice thoughts and actions.…
President Carter tried to normalize relations with Cuba by opening the U.S. Interests Section (a de facto embassy) in Havana in 1977. "Immigration Policy (1976 to Present)." In Encyclopedia of U.S. Political History, edited by Richard M. Valelly, vol. 7. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2010. http://library.cqpress.com/usph/eusphv7_215.1.understood the situation best, think the embargo is not working. More than 80% of Cuban Americans that had been surveyed in 2011, said that the embargo has not worked very well or not at all. Even though President Obama eased restrictions related to Cuba in 2009, his support among Cuban Americans in Florida increased from a third of the community in 2008 to more than half in the 2012 presidential election. (Page 55, Cuba…
First, an elite group of Cubans came, but immigration continued with people making the dangerous crossing to the United States by makeshift watercraft (Bernal & Shapiro, 1996). Some of these immigrants, such as the educated professionals who came to the United States during the early phase of Cuban migration, have become well established, where-as others who arrived with few economic resources are less so. Unlike immigrants from several other countries, many Cubans have gained access to citizenship and federal support through their status as political…