Cuba – Pike & Hurricane

Little Havana: a generational divide?

Elena Wasserzier — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 21:14:26 +0000

Why do many Cubans living in the US tend to be Republicans and how is it shifting nowadays? Miami, Florida, where the largest group of Latinxs are exile-Cubans, and you can feel it at every corner. The streets are full of little Cuban cafecitos and panaderias. But it is not only their original food that they are known for, but also their political attitude, with which they tend to shift Florida to the right. Over 50% of Cuban Americans in Florida, voted for Donald Trump in 2016.

What is the reason for this establishment?

In the beginning of John F. Kennedy‘s presidency, who was a well-known Democrat, the CIA supported the counter-revolutionaries and their attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro who led the communist revolution in Cuba, 1959. Elderly Cuban Americans, so called “exile-Cubans” started to consider the Bay of Pigs invasion as a symbol of treachery by Democrats and leftist Americans. Moreover, Cuban immigrants of the first generation, who fled the communist revolution got quick opportunities to engage in voting and politics through the 1966 Cuban adjustment act.

Having almost no trust in left-wing politics, many Cuban immigrants were drawn to the Republican party which peaked in their votes for Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. The former president won against his opponent Carter by 17 points through the votes in Florida. This specific time in history is often referred to as the one where many exile Cubans solidified their “belief” in the Republican party after Reagan’s policies proclaimed to bring down the Soviet Union. Another huge part plays their resentment towards Fidel Castro, to whom many exile Cubans lost their whole companies and funds. They connect this resentment with the Democratic party. “Cubans in the U.S associate Hillary with communism, they make a parallel between her and the Cuban government“, Johan Carlos Sánchez, 53, artist, says.

In Trump’s case, many of his Cuban supporters are acknowledging his economic policies and his patriotism. The mayor, Carlos Hernandez, Diaz-Balart, 57, mentions, that the community‘s support of the GOP intensified under Trump, which polls by the Washington Examiner can confirm. The midterm elections showed that president Donald Trump is favored by Cuban Americans with 61%. Furthermore, he concludes that democratic policies and their approach to “socialism” occurred to show signs of resistance within the Cuban community but also among Venezuelans in Florida who are, as of right now, witnessing a formerly functioning and democratic, socialist regime’s destruction. A huge majority believes that replacing Trump with a Democrat would lead to an age of socialism in the United States as seen in Venezuela. They fear their past to become the present.

The change?

Unlike their grandparents or parents, many young Cuban Americans are having a different point of view on politics, while a lot of analysts claim, that Cuban conservatism in Florida is decreasing. Andy Vila, a 21 year-old, Florida-based Cuban American used to prefer the Republican party but changed his mind during the 2016 Trump campaign. Particular reasons were for instance the hostile stance towards immigrants. Andy Vila says: “Cuban Republicanism is mostly just tradition… A lot of ideas I grew up with, didn’t make sense…“

His family is against his beliefs, thinking that he supports the ideology hey fled from. Relatives would “look at me funny and say, ‘We’ve escaped that.’” Andy Vila belongs to a group of young Americans, who are in favor of socialism even though they grew up in the mostly, on Cuban part, anti-left Miami. Interpreted in many different ways, the socialist idea has a growing following among millenials and Generation Z. These voters are supposed to make up 37% of the 2020 electorate in the United States.

While the majority of Americans still reject socialism, studies have shown that 43% of the surveyed would be in favour for some socialist parts in American politics. The political sociologist Edwin Amenta from the University of California-Irvine concedes: “Younger Americans are less threatened by socialism than older generations, who might associate it with Soviet or Chinese rule… Today’s socialism for younger people means the Canadian health system and the Swedish welfare state.“

New generations are already showing their shift to the Democratic party, but a permanent change has yet to be reached. Cuban Americans remain Republican supporters and voters. Future elections and polls will indicate what is going to happen. As often wisely said, time will tell.

by Elena Wasserzier

Photo Credits

America, Thomas_H_foto, CC BY-ND 2.0

Miami – Little Havana, simplethrill, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Ronald Reagan Library, Thomas Hawk, CC BY-NC 2.0

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The Fate of Cuban Entrepreneurs

EditorChief — Sat, 10 Mar 2018 18:04:36 +0000

Entrepreneurship. A great buzzword. Defined as the process of designing, launching and running a new business, it has also been described as the capacity and willingness to develop, organise and manage a business venture. It is sometimes mistaken as a panacea to fix dysfunctional economies. Probably, at best it is a potent band-aid in said economies. Long before we attached a name to what now produces more than 102.000.000 hits in 0.47 seconds (for English results only), entrepreneurship has propelled the process of human civilisation. It is among the most important activities to drive progress and transformation of market places, developed or not. It is driven by the hope and determination that the status quo can be changed, no matter what.

Hope is not conditional. It can overcome societal norms that do not encourage individualistic initiatives, or an interventionist state that does not promote or allow entrepreneurship in the first place. It can overrise economic activity of a state that is largely predetermined and planned. Rather than as reactionary to demand, when hope is just a byproduct, there is no real relationship between employer and employee, nor the concept of private enterprises. Hope stands by, even when creation of wealth is considered revolutionary.

Entrepreneurship in Cuba

Cuba is a formally socialist economy with a planned economy, dominated by state-run enterprises, that has recently begun moving towards a more mixed economy. In some ways, we see round II taking place for the private sector. The Cuban government already began a small experiment in self-employment in 1978, but the collapse of the Soviet Union put a quite immediate end to this. In the 1990s, to fight unemployment the government allowed private restaurants and Bed & Breakfasts again, yet strictly regulated. Since then, entrepreneurship, cuentapropismo, has become more common, most notably when in 1997, Cubans were allowed to rent out their homes and apartments.

Household production, village enterprise, artist collectives, and similar small-scale market-like activities have been on the rise since the ratio of public to private sector employment was 76 percent to 23 percent in 2000, compared to 91 to 8 in 1981. Since Raúl Castro succeeded his brother in 2008, the Cuban government has started to further relax restrictions on private ownership, markets and entrepreneurship. In 2010, the government announced plans to legalise small-scale private enterprise, some forms of land rental, and other capitalist practices. Yet the ideologies underlying capitalism and socialism could not be more different—the battle between those who want to preserve the status quo and those who want change is real.

Not everything that glitters is gold

Homeowners in Cuba who want to rent out their houses as casas particulares or set up restaurants, called paladares, require a license from the state. Licenses might not be granted and they can also be revoked. Setting up shops and renovating houses require access to raw materials and capital. Cuban entrepreneurs need to find suppliers abroad, rely on emigrated relatives for financing, and are also faced with high taxes and bureaucratic rules. Few homes have access to the Internet, and for most Cubans hourly internet passes, which can be bought for private hot spots, are too expensive.

The Cuban case showcases that human creativity, ingenuity, and the drive to improve can never be totally extinguished, not by lack of capital or resources, or by a totalitarian state. Even at the height of the Cuban Revolution, private initiatives and enterprises continued to flourish, even if underground. With Raúl Castro’s decision to expand the private sector, entrepreneurship has become a legal business activity.

So what will happen as limitations and restrictions, psychological and regulatory alike get lifted? How long will it take for entrepreneurship to truly flourish and bring about a significant improvement to the standard of living? The cards may not have been dealt equally for all Cubans. Prerequisites, such as connections, capital and house ownership, have already created two classes of Cubans; those who can and those who cannot start businesses.

Things will probably not change overnight. Entrepreneurship is still not a panacea, it can only be a band-aid and eventually it will drive progress and transformation, because at the core of entrepreneurship, there is always hope. Luck. Aspiration. Persistence. But most fundamentally, a hope that we can improve the status quo with our own hands.

By: Clara Bieler

Photo Credit:

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