The dilemma of Florida’s Cuban-American members of Congress
With seven representatives and one senator in the United States Congress, the Cuban-origin community is the proportionally best-represented ethnic minority in that legislative body, highlighting the level of participation achieved in U.S. political life.
However, only three of these members of Congress owe their election to the Cuban-American vote: Republicans Mario Díaz Balart, María Elvira Salazar, and Carlos Giménez, who were elected in South Florida districts, where the Cuban population is the most densely concentrated in the country.
It is no coincidence that all three are products of the so-called “historical exile,” children of the first migrants after the revolutionary triumph who, under the protection of the US government itself and using methods that included domestic terrorism, held leadership positions in the Miami enclave. As a social group, they were the greatest beneficiaries of the opportunities associated with the “counterrevolutionary role” assigned by the United States government to Cuban emigrants. From their ranks emerged the key figures of the political machinery that eventually became advantageously embedded in American political life.
A kind of ‘reward for services rendered’—one that no other immigrant group in the United States has received. This platform reinforces the supposed “exceptionality” of Cuban immigrants and explains the widespread anti-Cuban rhetoric and activity that sustains it.
The novelty of the current situation lies in the fact that these assumptions are seemingly not being met under Donald Trump’s administration, creating an almost insurmountable dilemma for the Cuban-American political machinery, particularly among the South Florida congress members, whose images now appear on large banners denouncing them as traitors. This machinery originated from the connections between Cuban counterrevolutionary groups and the infrastructure established by the CIA in Miami in the 1960s. It experienced some resurgence in the 1970s due to the expansion of US business relationships with Latin America, including Miami’s involvement in international drug trafficking. It reached its zenith during the Ronald Reagan administration in 1980.
At that time, the CIA itself recommended the establishment of the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) to influence the policies implemented by the Jimmy Carter administration toward Cuba and Latin America, as well as to advance the neoconservative agenda in the region.
Initially, it was conceived as another conservative lobby group aiming to leverage the supposed ‘ethnic legitimacy’ emanating from these individuals’ national origins. However, such a role was not sufficient for the emerging bourgeoisie of the Miami enclave, which had other objectives in mind.
With political experience rooted in neocolonial Cuba, knowledge of the American system and its pitfalls, along with established interests in the United States that needed defense, Cuban Americans seized the opportunity to accelerate the formation of their own political base in Miami.
Under Jorge Mas Canosa’s leadership, who emerged as the figurehead of the counterrevolution, the CANF propelled Cuban Americans into American political life, swiftly exceeding their demographic and economic significance.
The basis of their political projection remained “liberating Cuba from communism,” but the CANF changed the nature of counterrevolutionary groups. By presenting themselves for the first time as Americans of Cuban origin, they ‘nationalized’ the Cuban counterrevolution and transformed it into a domestic political issue in the United States.
With CANF sponsorship, they gained increasing representation in Florida. Short-term goals included electing commissioners, mayors, congressmen, state officials, and the first representatives to the United States Congress.
Politicians across the country, both Democrats and Republicans, were compelled, through thick and thin, to remain loyal to the ‘Cuban cause,’ which demonstrated the influence of Cuban Americans nationwide. Today, this lobby is no longer confined to a single organization, as it was with CANF, but encompasses a complex array of groups and institutions aligned with both parties and intricately connected to the US establishment.
Although some started their careers within the ranks of the Democratic Party, and CANF itself proclaimed its independence, it was the Republican Party that gained the most from the emergence of Cuban Americans in American political life. This is explained by the alignment of this party’s strategy, which aimed at gaining ground in Democratic-controlled structures, as was the case in Florida, and the Republicans’ ideological convergence with these groups, situated on the far right of the country’s political spectrum.
Donald Trump’s victory has marked a new step forward for Cuban-American politicians. As Florida emerged as the headquarters of the MAGA movement, their proximity to Donald Trump grew, and many were appointed to key government positions. Miami members of Congress celebrated their direct access to the White House in advance, and some believed this should translate into greater privileges for the Cuban-origin community that elected them with such expectations.
Since Ileana Ros-Lehtinen’s election in 1989, Florida’s Cuban-American congresspersons have portrayed themselves as champions in the fight against communism while also guardians of the community’s exceptionalism. This dual role has positioned them on the extreme end of conservatism and alongside liberals regarding social assistance and immigration policies.
However, no one has put them in such a dramatic dilemma as Donald Trump. In the midst of a campaign against immigrants reminiscent of America’s darkest times, they must choose between loyalty to a president who offers no room for the faint-hearted and the electorate whose vote they also depend on for survival. The programs designed by Biden to facilitate the legalization of Cuban immigrants, along with the preferential treatment they have historically received at the borders, were abruptly canceled by Trump, leaving hundreds of thousands of Cuban immigrants in legal limbo, facing possible deportation—an unprecedented situation in the history of post-revolutionary Cuban migration.
It remains to be seen how supportive Cuban Americans already established in that country will be of their fellow immigrants. Like other ethnic groups, some will be pleased that the influx of new immigrants is reduced, but the Trump campaign is so brutal that no one with any sensitivity can turn a blind eye to the abuse these individuals are facing. Furthermore, new immigrants have not only been subjected to this policy, but Florida’s role in enforcing a highly reactionary, racist, and xenophobic agenda focused on issues affecting people’s most basic freedoms must also be noted. This includes the creation of a socially oppressive language that is foreign to Cuban traditions, as well as an economic strategy that prioritizes cuts in welfare benefits, which have until now been a lifeline for many Cuban-American families.
Contacts with family and friends in Cuba are jeopardized by Trump’s policies and his Cuban-American allies, and there is even the potential to eliminate significant political advantages, such as the Cuban Adjustment Act.
Despite operating in a deeply divided Congress that amplifies the relative importance of each representative’s vote, Cuban-Americans have leveraged this status to advance their agenda on issues like policy toward Cuba and Venezuela. However, this does not apply to immigration policy, which is central to the Trumpist agenda and crucial for social cohesion within the MAGA movement. In addition to appearing “close” to the president and his team, raising unrealistic expectations about their influence over events, and highlighting their role in the anti-Cuban—and anti-Venezuelan—crusade to distract voters, these Florida congressmembers have struggled to maintain their image as advocates for Cuban-American exceptionalism.
It is important to observe the extent to which dismantling the link between counterrevolutionary activity and obtaining extraordinary social benefits can influence the political behavior of the Cuban-American community in the future.
For now, what appeared to be a grand piñata for the Cuban-American right seems poised to become the burial ground for their Florida members of Congress, potential accidental martyrs of Trumpism.
