The peddling of a myth

Whether it’s a coprophagic columnist like Ana Menendez or a Democratic party apparatchik like Joe Garcia, we tend to hear the same myth being peddled by the miniscule Cuban-American left: That the historical exile community is old, that it’s losing its power and that the Cuban-American community is fractured in its thinking on the Cuba problem.

Why is this so important to them?
The answer is because they know they are on the periphery of the Cuban-American community. They desperately want to believe that people are joining them by the boatload (literally). In order to kick-start what they see as inevitable they want people to believe this transition has already started to take place. They have been telling us this ever since the Bill Clinton was elected in 1992 (and probably before). But its no more true today than it was then. This has simply become a case of them trying to tell a lie so many times that it begins to be perceived as truth.

In order to back their arguments they cite surveys, which they conduct. They splice the data by date of arrival and attempt to show that the growing portion of the Cuban-American community, the most recent arrivals do not identify with the “historical” exile community nor do they agree with the policy approaches espoused by that group that has been here for 40+ years. They also say the second generation is more liberal, read open-minded, and open to rational dialogue with the murderous Castro regime. You see, to them, having a dialogue with a serial killer the likes of fidel castro is rational.

The Truth
The reality is that that there are some Cuban-Americans that believe exactly what these false prophets believe. And it’s always been that way. We’ve always had apologists for the regime in our midst and we’ve always had people that seek to discredit the “hard-line” exiles. But I don’t think their number, as a proportion of the overall Cuban-American community in Miami, is much greater, if at all, than it’s ever been.

You see, their analysis is flawed in one major way. They assume that these recently arrived Cubans will maintain the same ideas the presently have over the rest of their lives. It’s a static model, which doesn’t account for migration away from their dialoguero position. Logic and hard evidence would seem to dictate that this is an improbable scenario.

A look into the life of recently arrived Cuban-American
I want to begin by telling you a bit about my background. I work in Spanish language advertising, in a field called “account planning”. That’s a fancy way of saying that my job is to know what consumers are thinking and feeling. As you can imagine most of the consumers we speak to in Spanish language media are recent arrivals. Most are Mexican. But there is general psychology and behavior common to most immigrants. For example a new immigrant will probably settle where he has family or friends living. These people are the ones that guide the immigrant in his transition to a new country where almost everything is different than the country they left behind. And the same is true for Cubans.

In general, immigrants follow a predictable pattern as they attempt to fulfill their hierarchy of needs. This starts with the basic acquisition of food and shelter and then employment, transportation, etc. Usually new immigrants don’t have time for polemics or discussions of foreign policy; they are too busy meeting these basic needs. Oscar Corral wrote about this in the Herald a while back

And there’s also some things that make the Cuban immigrant’s situation different, that’s the fact that most of them have lived most or all of their lives under the castroite system. Many of them have developed a sense of self-preservation that prevents them from speaking out against the regime, even after they are in America. In the last six months I’ve seen countless interviews at the Miami airport with Cubans that have literally just gotten off the plane from Cuba to start their new lives in America and the overwhelming majority of them just decline to comment on anything related to regime.

Which brings us to the next point. Many recently arrived Cubans have close family members back in Cuba. They not only fear for their safety but they also want to help provide them with a better life. So they understandably will, almost out of reflex, oppose measures that restrict remittances or travel to Cuba. Who can blame them?

But to assume that the attitude of that person that just got off the plane is going to be the same in several years, to me, is folly. First of all as an immigrant begins to acculturate (adopt the culture they have joined) they will be exposed to a variety of ideas. In the case of Cubans, the ideas of the dominant culture in Miami, the historical exile community, will be in stark contrast to what they have been taught in Cuba. There is a slow discovery process in which the person begins to, perhaps for the first time, reflect on the veracity (or lack thereof) of what the regime told them during their formative years. Most Cubans on the island, like recent immigrants to the US, simply don’t have time to engage in political discussions because they are too busy resolviendo (hustling) to make ends meet. But as the immigrant becomes established in the US, leisure time becomes more abundant and there is literally time to delve into such things.

The truth is that most Cubans in Cuba are literally exhausted with politics. The atmosphere in Cuba is so highly politicized that they develop an aversion to politics. This prevails for a certain amount of time after they arrive in the US as well. But eventually that exhaustion wears off and certain realities set in.

New Media Choices
Adding to this natural learning curve is the explosion of media catering to Cuban-Americans. There has always been Spanish language media in Miami and the talk radio airwaves have always been dominated by the historical exile but a recent development sheds light on what’s really happening in Miami. The prime time success of two independent Spanish language TV stations in Miami is telling. The stations are MegaTV (Channel 22) and America TeVe (Channel 41). Both stations air news analysis shows at 8:00 PM that deal almost exclusively with Cuba and both have succeeded in taking significant audience share away from the local Univision and Telemundo stations whose programming, by necessity, must cater to a more heterogeneous US Hispanic market that is largely Mexican in origin. The rising ratings can hardly be attributed to the historical exile community that is “dying” according to the Garcias and Menendezes of the world.

Every night on America TeVe and MegaTV recently arrived Cuban-Americans are treated to different views on the topic of Cuba and US policy toward Cuba. And unlike the rest of the media, on these outlets the historical exile community gets at least equal time. The positions of the exile community are often challenged by guests and the hosts but never belittled or marginalized. Is it any wonder that the ratings for these stations continue to rise while the circulations of the two Heralds continues to nosedive? It’s precisely the wave of recently arrived Cubans (more than 100,000 in the last 7 years) that are driving the popularity of these shows and the stations that carry them.

Lastly, I want to point to a video that is currently being shown on the Miami Herald’s web site in the special section they are calling “The Cuba Puzzle”. It’s a video of people celebrating back on July 31st when the castro regime announced fidel’s mystery illness. Take a long hard look at that video and tell me how many of those people celebrating are part of the “dying, intransigent historical exile community”. What I see are a bunch of young people, mostly recent immigrants and 2nd generation Cuban-Americans rejoicing at the idea of the death of the bloodthirsty murderer.

Parting thought
My advice to people like Joe Garcia and Ana Menendez is that if you think that the Cuban exile community is going to be outnumbered by recent arrivals that tow a softer-line toward castro, don’t hold your breath. It shows a complete ignorance of how acculturation works. It’s far more likely that those younger Cubans will become more outspoken and intransigent than their forerunners.

Posted by Henry Louis Gomez at May 16, 2007 12:00 PM

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