The “Cuban Success Story”: Coopting Refugee Narratives

• In Event: Storying Just Futures: Emancipatory Analyses of Representations of People Who Sought Refuge

Abstract

Critical refugee studies highlights the need to have forcefully displaced persons control their narratives in the face of states, institutions, and literature and media industries speaking for them (Espiritu et al., 2022). However, what happens when a refugee-produced narrative aligns with and supports the interests of the host nation’s state power, oppressive systems, and imperial endeavors?

This project examines the emergence of the “Cuban success story” and its related notions, “Cuban exceptionalism” and “the golden exiles,” widely circulated by the U.S. government, authorities in the Greater Miami Area, the Cuban community, and popular media. Together, they presented Cubans as respectable “good” immigrants; namely, white, hardworking, professional, and family-oriented, while expressing middle-class sensibilities and appreciation towards the U.S.

This research relies on archival materials from the Cuban Heritage Collection housed at the University of Miami and various periodicals, including national publications (e.g. the Miami Herald), Cuban organizations (e.g. Truth About Cuba Committee), government records (e.g. congressional records and correspondences), and mass media (e.g. Floridian broadcast stations WFAB-TV, WTHS-TV). Critical readings of source materials were vital in interpreting rhetoric, coded language, and political performances, while traditions from social and cultural history were used to organize these source materials to examine and center a social group. Examining the emergence and circulation of the “Cuban success story” reveals:
1. Cuban exiles’ popular narrative and favorable reputation were constructed and distributed via periodicals and broadcasting.
2. That construction was a means to advance the agendas of the U.S. government, U.S. media, local authorities, and the Cuban community.
3. The image of exile-era Cubans was purposefully presented as monolithic; however, it did not represent most Cubans from the 1960s to the present.

The U.S. government, media, and Cuban community promoted Cuban exiles to serve their self-interest. The U.S. authorities sought to garner popular support for their foreign policy against the Cuban state and their immigration policy towards Cuban exiles. Cuban leaders sought to create a favorable reputation, which benefited their efforts to return home. U.S. media was ideologically opposed to communist states (Curtin, 1995), preferring sympathetic views of Cuban exiles.

With few exceptions, literature on Cuban exiles accepts the “Cuban success story” as intrinsic and uncontested (Croucher, 1997; Garcia, 1996). However, this research reexamines the crafting of that narrative by treating it as a site of contention by stakeholders and refraining from treating its emergence as an unchallenged phenomenon. Doing so offers guidance for the future policy-makers, activists, publishers, and producers of media:
- The instrumental role institutions play in the success of newly arrived immigrants, particularly the impact of their public image.
- How refugee narratives are coopted, even ones in agreement, to serve powerful interests.
- The need for diverse narratives from displaced peoples rather than a single dominant story that represents the entire group.

When placed within the context of racial politics, the “Cuban success story” and other “positive” stereotypes are used to blame social groups for their marginalization.

Author

• Richard M. Minaya, University of Missouri - Kansas City