The Cuban Success A Realization of the American Dream

The Cuban Success

A Realization of the American Dream - February 9 1986

Note: This advertisement which I keep for 33 years, I was living in New York then, 

Is getting yellowish and probably time will destroy the paper, before it happen, 

I copied and put in writing to internet. BTW., this Supplement is full of pictures, of 

Cubans who contribute to make this nation great. Many of them, passed away already.

At least enjoy the reading and keep it as a matter of pride. JN.

What do the chief executive officer of CocaCola, Nancy Reagan’s haute couture designer a world champion runner, and America’s top male ballet dancer all have in common? They are all Cuban-American - products of the mass of humanity that began pouring into de United States in overwhelming numbers after the Castro regime took control over Cuba in 1959.

The people aluded to- Roberto Goizueta-RIP- Adolfo Alberto Salazar, and Fernando Bujones are perhaps the most celebrated of this group; their careers involve high visibility and their rise to the top has placed them in the international limelight. Nevertheless, it should be remembered that they are but four of a community that numbers well over a million, with representatives all over the country from every imaginable walk of life.

Cuban-Americans can be found in places as different as New York and Milwaukee, Indiannapolis and Chicago, and they may be anyone from bank president to a construction worker, artist or hairdresser.

They have in less than 25 years, established themselves as a positive and dynamic force in the United States. Their story is one of success seldom matched in this country’s long history of immigration and one described succinctly by George Gilder as, “The Cuban Miracle”. 

Over half of the Cubans who came to this country during the past quarter century chose to settle in the Miami-South-Florida area, creating what was initially considered an overwhelming burden for an area poorly prepared to handle it. In 1959, Miami was a fatigued tourist and retirement town, sleepy town, steadily losing business to the island countries just south of it and lacking and adequate welfare system for its own residents.

It was even less able to provide for the hundreds of penniless refugees who were arriving daily, in need of food, housing, medical care, and employment. To make matters worse, many of the new comers were young Cuban children whose parents, unable to leave Cuba themselves, packed them of the U.S. to start a new life on their own.

The situation provoked worry and dismay not only among English speaking South Floridians and their civic leaders but also in the U.S. Congress which convene to discuss what was euphemistically referred as “The Cuban Problem”.

The newcomers were perceived as clannish, unwilling or unable to adapt to the ways of this country, uninterested in learning to speak English, and obsessed with the dream of one returning to Cuba. All in all, the attitude towards the newly arrived Cubans was aptly described by magazine headline that proclaimed “Gloom over Miami.” It was hardly an auspicious beginning.

Ironically, it is precisely in South Florida that the success of the Cuban community is most apparent. In one generation, the Miami area has undergone a Latin-flavored boom that Brookings Institute sociologist Robert Bach describes as “one of the fastest and most far-reaching transformation of any urban area in United States history”

According to Carlos Arboleya, himself a Cuban-American “success story”, Cubans in the Miami-Dade County area own close to 20,000 businesses and account for 25,000 of the garment workers, close to 4,500 of the medical doctors practicing in the city, 17 of the highest-level banking executives and 500 of Miami’s attorneys.

Carlos Arboleya’s history give testimony to his belief in America: After resigning his position as chief auditor of a Cuban bank in October 14 1960, the day Castro confiscated all banks, Arboleya arrived in Miami with exactly 42 dollars in his pocket.

His first job in the United States was at shoe factory where he worked as a clerk for 45 dollars a week. Six years later he became the first naturalized Cuban to occupy the presidency of a national bank in the United States. Arboleya, who once despaired of ever finding gainful employment in the U.S., is currently Vice Chairman of the Barnett Bank of South Florida-Florida’s largest chain of banks.

South Florida’s Cubans established what Miami’s former mayor Maurice Ferré calls, “a country within a country.” Along the way, they produced several hundred millionaires as well as thousands of jobs for themselves and for native South Floridians.

Their success has astounded the social planners who declared in 1960 that “the influx of Cubans is an overwhelming and dramatic social problem- a catastrophic change for the city” and that “the only long term solution to the Cuban refugee program is a massive nationwide resettlement program.” Ferre, once described as a close student of the Cuban soul. “believe otherwise: The thing that rescues people is their pride, pride in their religion, their family, their tradition, and their language….citizenship is what makes us all Americans.”

Moreover, some of the most ambitious and successful Cuban exiles are those who chose to settle outside of Florida. A larger proportion of them were professionals; many came after having traveled throughout the U.S., and with at least a working knowledge of the English language. 

The task of assimilating and adapting to this country was substantially easier for them, not only because of their circumstances, but because they didn’t find a community of like individuals into they could withdraw. On the whole, they are better off financially with a median household income that is 15% higher than that of the South Floridian Cubans.

They also tend - more than the Miami counterparts - to think of themselves as individuals rather than members of a group. These Cubans include Houston architects, New York City musicians and filmmakers. Silicon Valley engineers, Washington lawyers and Los Angeles musicians. They are as much a part of the Cuban Success Story as their compatriots in Miami and have been recognized as such. In fact, all Americans should add their voices to those of the Puerto Ricans who declared. “Gracias, Fidel” when Castro opened the gates of his country.

QUOTES FROM OTHER AMERICANS, ABOUT CUBANS:

President Ronald Reagan: (From a speech to the Miami Cuban American community, May 1984) “Many of you arrived in this country, with little more than the shirts in your back and a desire to improve your well-being and that of your family. You came with a willingness to work and yes, a consuming passion for liberty. There is a name for this kind of spirit. It’s called the American spirit, and there’s no limit to what it can do. Clearly, America has been good for you, but you have also been good for America and for Miami”.

Paula Hawkins, Florida Senator:

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/05/us/05hawkins.html?r=0&pagewanted=print

( In a speech to the Latin Builders association)

“Rarely, if ever, in the annals of American history has there been a success story such as that of the Cuban-American community in Florida. You have lifted yourself from being refugees, fleeing communist oppression with little more than the clothes on your backs and determination in your hearts, to become one of the most successful and dynamic forces, not just in Florida, but in the entire nation”.

New Jersey Governor Tom Kean: 

“New Jersey’s Cuban community is vibrant part of our state’s cultural, social and business life. The Cuban people have contributed a great deal to New Jersey, and have complied an outstanding record of citizenship and achievement”

Mayor Koch of N.Y. :- “ The story of the Cuban community in the United States is one of the best possible advertisements for American freedom and democracy. Forced to flee their homeland after the communist take over in 1959, they came here and, in a brief period of time, made use of the great opportunities which this country offers.

They achieved remarkable prosperity in the process, earning the recognition of all Americans.”

Robert Graham, Florida Governor: “The arrival of the Cuban community after Castro takeover has allowed my hometown of Miami to achieve its long proclaimed but unsubstantiated desire to become a truly international city. The Cubans, first and second wave, have brought an enthusiastic spirit and a passion for life along with a level of prosperity that has benefited an entire community.”

Lawton Chiles, Florida Senator: “ The Cuban people who fled Castro’s regime years ago brought with them tremendous talent, ambition and intelligence. We in Florida have been the fortunate beneficiaries of the contributions in many areas including business, finance, law, medicine and government. These Cuban-Americans are ever-growing force in our state….and not just in South Florida. Anyone who has any doubt that we have a land of opportunity should talk to these smart people.”

Governor of Puerto Rico, Rafael Hernandez Colon:

“My country- Cuban sister-is fortunate to have in its midst two generations of Cubans and if our countries are sisters, then out citizens are brothers and sisters as well.

For that reason, whatever hurts Cuba, hurts Puerto Rico”. JN.

Advertising Supplement to The New York Times