Atlas of Hispanic-American History

aiming the anticommunist station Radio
Martí at Cuba beginning in 1985.
Immigration policy remained a sore
point, with the United States wanting to
control the flow of immigrants to avoid
another inundation of refugees as in the
Mariel boatlift, and Castro wanting to
restrict emigration to the United States
except when politically useful. Despite
these restrictions on emigration, Cubans
unhappy with the Castro regime man-
aged to make their way to American
shores. Some came by way of travel to a
third country, like baseball pitcher Livan
Hernández, who defected to Mexico in
1995 and was soon playing for the Florida
Marlins. Others came on leaky boats or
rafts made of inner tubes.
The collapse of the Soviet Union in
1991 ended the cold war and put Cuba in
a difficult position. Still unable to trade
with the United States and now bereft of

its main source of foreign aid, Cuba suf-

fered economic deterioration. But Castro

retained his grip on power, with cold war

tensions persisting. In 1996 Castro

launched a crackdown on dissidents and

shot down two private planes operating

out of the United States. The United

States reacted by tightening its economic

embargo, adding penalties for foreigners

investing in Cuba. While Cuba and the

United States have made some progress in

improving relations, some Americans have

strongly opposed a complete lifting of

sanctions, among them the Cuban exiles

who fled when Castro came to power.

The Elian Gonzalez custody battle in

2000 highlighted the unresolved issues

still separating the United States and

Cuba. It began in late 1999, when

American fishermen rescued the five-year-

old boy off the coast of Florida.

Attempting to flee Cuba, his mother and

A CHANGING COMMUNITY 207

Occupations of Cubans and Cuban Refugees to the United States, 1953–1980

Note:Because the 1953 Cuban census did not distinguish between types of laborers,

both skilled and unskilled laborers are presented as one occupational group.

As the graphs above indicate, the Mariel boatlift refugees were less skilled than either earlier refugee groups or the Cuban

population as a whole, as reflected by the prerevolution 1953 Cuban census. Many Americans accused Castro of using the

boatlift to “dump” undesirable members of Cuban society on the United States.