The Cuban-American Homeland in Miami

Abstract

As metropolitan Miami's population has experienced a radical change in its ethnic composition since Fidel Castro's revolution in Cuba in 1959, it has become a second homeland for the United States Cuban-American population. This article documents the ethnic change that has taken place in Miami during the past three decades. As evidence of the emergence of Miami as a homeland in absentia the following topics are discussed: the growth and dispersion of the city's Cubans, Miami as a magnet for Cubans living elsewhere in the U.S., the Hispanic economic enclave that has developed in Miami, the emergence of Cubans as a major political force, the development ofmunicipios in exile in Miami, and the possibilities of the return to Cuba by Cuban Americans if the current communist government were to fall in their island of origin.