A Cuban Revolution and Miami History #6

The Miami Herald for which I will be eternally grateful pretty much got it right in an article on Page 6A.  

Fidel Castro became an unwitting father of modern Miami

Castro's march into Havana brought repression and economic failure and a stream of exiles, entrepreneurs, and political refugees to Miami that by sheer mass and hard work have made Miami an international hub between the Caribbean, along with Central and South America.

Working at 1800 SW 1 Street I witnessed the Mariel Boatlift, Guantanamo Rafters and a subsequent Cuban Visa Program that allowed about 20,000 to leave the island annually.  "About 1/3 of Miami Dade's population is either Cuban-born or of Cuban descent which translates to just under a million people.

Along with Cubans came refugees and immigrants from Nicaragua, Columbia, Panama, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico who are neither refugee or immigrants.  Business, trade, location, the Spanish Language and Cuban exiles have made Miami the hub it is today more Latin American city than American city.

No complaints, Saturday, I was referred to as a "gringo".  I've lived here long enough to know it isn't an insult, it just  

"is".



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