What happened during the Cuban revolution?

People must have a series of questions about

the Cuban revolution simply because it caused a massive amount exodus from the 1960s to the

1970s. As the old Cuban leader Fidel Castro said, “A revolution is not a bed of roses.”- turmoil

and other shortcomings might accompany the revolution.

So how come it would connect with emigration? Apparently, a person chooses to emigrate

most likely because of two types of factors, push factors and pull factors. The push factors can

also be known as the direct factor, which always, mostly like the war, the stagnant economy, and

some adverse policies. The other general element, pull factor, is always created by the state you

want to immigrate. Back to the Cuban revolution, although it made a little success in some

aspects, the way Fidel Castro used to strengthen his power was inadvisable. So I would argue,

the Cuban civilians left their homeland was because they faced the poor economy, civilians’

disappointment and adverse policies by the Castro government, and why they chose to move to

America was because of economic opportunities and better policies.

With the war happening, the economic recession is impossible to avoid, which also applied

to the Cuban revolution. According to research, it addressed that “by 1961, the state owned 9/10

of all industry in Cuba. Sugar production was hardest hit by the revolution, falling almost by half

from 7.4 million tons in 1961, to 4.2 million tons in 1963. Along these lines, food production fell

to the lowest levels since the 1940s, and rationing became a permanent fixture in the country in

March 1962” (“Economic effects of the Cuban Revolution”). In summary, the revolution

influenced industrialization, sugar production, and other food production badly. Some of them

were even back to twenty years ago. All of these recessions were keeping company with the war.
Under such significantly weak economy, plenty of Cubans chose to leave their home instead of

suffering poverty.

In addition to the economy, the accumulation of Cubans’ disappointment also influenced

the first wave of emigration a lot. Whenever the war keeps going, there is no doubt that the

civilians will be the biggest victims. When Fidel Castro was leading the revolution, it impacted

lots of Cubans’ properties and safety badly. According to a document, which was a memoir

made by a boy who was just five years old at that time, I felt how the civilians thought when they

faced war, fear, and death. As he described, "That night, someone went up to our building's

rooftop patio, looking for a Batista supporter. Two shots rang out. I cringed, squatting next to a

wall. I remember the terror I felt" (Brice). This quote was from his memoir, by which it is

accessible to feel how scared and desperate he was at that night, so were the other Cubans who

experienced this revolution. Although the revolutionist definitely knew why they chose to

revolute and what the benefits can come out, such as the better future, stronger economy, more

opportunities and so on, no one could exactly know when these benefits would come. What the

civilians only knew was the revolution destroyed their families, threaten their lives, influenced

their farmlands and food badly. What they only got was fear and dark. So if standing on

revolutionists’ points to consider, it was a good choice somehow. But from the civilians’

perspectives, it was a disaster, at least for that short period. Besides, here are two images from

my research. One of them is a demographic line chart; the other is called “Main Post-revolution

Periods of Cuban Migration to the United States.” The first one recorded accurately the number

of people that emigrated to America during 1870-2015 in decade. Digging into this chart, it
apparently shows how the number of emigrants changed by the time. Also, the most important

point is that from 1959 when

the Castro revolution took place, the number of emigrants was increasing rapidly and reached the

peak around 1979. So people must be wondering why it changed dramatically during exactly this

period. One the whole, it was because Cubans’ disappointment was accumulating gradually.

According to the explanation from the other image which is a table explaining several phases in

chart 1, revealing it was because of two “Landmark Events”— “Historical exile” and “Freedom

flights.” Historical exile was the first post-revolution migrant wave. During historical exile,

around twenty thousand people from upper and middle strata of Cuban society fled to America

from 1959-1962. It was because of some religious or political reasons, also fearing persecution

by the Castro government. Connecting to the interview which will mention after, the Cuban

civilians didn’t even trust that communism led by Fidel Castro would bring them a better future,

then how could they live in such a disappointing country.

Fathermore, the adverse policies by the Castro government were the extremely important

push factors for certain groups of people. According to research, there was a policy after Fidel

Castro took office. As Pedraza said, “a group largely composed of the ​petite bourgeoisie​: cooks,
gardeners, domestics, street vendors, barbers, hairdressers, taxi drivers, small retail merchants,

and small merchants. They left Cuba when Castro launched a new "revolutionary offensive,"

confiscating over 55,000 small businesses” (Pedraza). Connecting with my interview, in which I

talked with my host father who was living in Cuba and left in 1969. As he said, “his father was a

barber in Cuba, due to this “revolutionary offensive,” they had to leave Cuba to find another

country to survive.” Now it is easy to understand how these adverse policies in Cuba impacted

the waves of emigration. Also, when we were talking about this policy, I could apparently feel

how sad and disappointed he is. Obviously, they loved their country, because the homeland is

like a mother raising them and providing them everything. But with the revolution getting to the

climax, everything was changed, they had to leave, change so. As you know, everyone prefers to

close to something or somewhere good for them, so did Cubans.

In sum, these push factors aforementioned have a considerable influence on triggering the

waves of Cubans’ emigration. But why did most of them choose to immigrate to the US?

From the research, America had certain policies which impacted the Cuban exodus

significantly. According to the article written by Abraham David, “there was a law called “The

Cuban Adjustment Act”（“CAA”), which was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson On

November 2, 1966” (David). In summary, the Cuban Adjustment Act provided any Cuban

arriving in the United States by any means the right of permanent residency, whether it is legal or

illegal. It also promised work authorization, which is a significant plan providing Cubans with

more opportunities. What’s more, the CAA provided lots of asylees surreptitiously for Cubans

who didn’t have valid documentation such as a passport or visa, and the Cubans who cannot

bolster a claim if asylum or well-founded fear of persecution. Conforming to these three aspects
of the CAA, the Cubans who immigrated to US during that period could enjoy so many benefits.

Apparently, the purpose or profit of America was to weaken and overwhelm the Castro

government. Simultaneously, people would wonder the other factors that attracted Cubans.

During the study of world history and the research of the economy of the US at that time, it is

easy to conclude that the better economy is and the more opportunities exist, the more attractive

it is likely to be. As the document pointed out, “From 1945 to 1975 output per hour of labor

increased 120 percent while output per standard unit of energy increased 23 percent. Work hours

in agriculture fell from 19.2 to 7.5 percent also during this time” (“Us History”). How should

people comprehend the text above? The increase of efficiency means the creation of efficient

machines happened more often. This is to say it would need more high-tech talents to support the

development. As you know, it would cause lots of opportunities for Cubans. They also wanted a

better life and a better future—no one wants to emigrate a place which is short of opportunities

and full of pressure.

Based on the illustration and explanation above, I restate that Cubans’ migration patterns to

the US were determined by poor economy, civilians’ disappointment and adverse policies by the

Castro government. And due to the development of economy and plenty of opportunities in the

US, it attracted most of Cubans to immigrate, and triggered the first wave of the Cuban

emigration.