Cuban-American lobby
The Cuban-American lobby describes those various groups of Cuban exiles in the United States and their descendants who have historically influenced the United States' policy toward Cuba. In general usage this refers to anti-Castro groups.
Organizations
- Center for a Free Cuba
- Cuba Democracy Caucus
- Cuban American National Foundation
- Cuban Liberty Council
- US-Cuba Democracy PAC
- MAR Por Cuba
- Free Cuba Foundation
Cuban Americans in the United States Congress
Seven Cuban Americans currently serve in the United States Congress, making them the 2nd most over-represented group in U.S Federal Government, second only to Jewish-Americans, this is yet another reason why Cubans are often described as the “Jews of the Caribbean”, They have had incredible success regardless of their small population size and low concentration outside of Florida. There have been seven Cuban-American U.S congressmen elected from Florida, two from New Jersey, and one from Texas. Cubans are overrepresented compared to other Latino groups. In Texas, where Mexican-Americans represent the near entirety of the Hispanic community, their first Hispanic-American Senator is Republican Ted Cruz, the Canadian-born son of a Cuban immigrant and an American mother.
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- Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Congresswoman from Florida’s 27th Congressional District (1989–Present)
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- Marco Rubio, U.S Senator from Florida (2011–Present)
Three United States Senators:
- Marco Rubio, Republican, Florida, (2011–Present)
- Bob Menendez, Democrat, New Jersey (2006–Present), Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey's 13th district (1993-2006)
- Ted Cruz, Republican, Texas (2013–Present)
Five are United States Representatives:
- Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Republican, Florida's 27th congressional district (1989–Present), First Cuban-American & First Latina elected to Congress
- Albio Sires, Democrat, New Jersey's 8th congressional district (2006–Present)
- Mario Diaz-Balart, Republican, Florida's 25th congressional district (2003–Present)
- Alex Mooney, Republican, West Virginia's 2nd congressional district (2015–Present)
- Carlos Curbelo, Republican, Florida's 26th congressional district (2015–Present)
Former Congressmen:
- Mario Diaz-Balart, Republican, Florida's 25th congressional district (2003–2014)
- Mel Martínez, Republican, U.S Senator from Florida
- Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Republican, Miami, U.S House of Representatives(1993-2011)
- David Rivera, Republican, Miami, U.S House of Representatives (2011-2013)
- Joe Garcia, Democrat, Florida's 26th congressional district (2013–2015)
Cuban Americans in State Government
Cuban-Americans have had much success at the State-level. In Florida, where Cuban-American legislators hold more seats than anywhere else in the nation, pro-Democracy, anti-Castro, and anti-Chavez legislation is often promoted and passed even though states cannot dictate U.S Foreign Policy. However, it is done as a moral obligation to the oppressed people that suffer under the Communist regime their parents, grandparents, or they themselves had to flee from. Even in states where Cuban-Americans are not concentrated in large numbers they have had successes especially in New Jersey, where albeit a tiny minority concentrated in Union City, Elizabeth, and Newark, they have had enormous political successes.
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Lt.Governor of Florida Carlos Lopez-Cantera
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Anitere Flores, Florida Senate, Majority Whip
- Carlos Lopez-Cantera, Republican, Lieutenant Governor of Florida, (2014–Present)
- Anitere Flores, Republican, Member of the Florida Senate from the 37th district
- Miguel Díaz de la Portilla, Republican, Member of the Florida Senate from the 40th district
- René García, Republican, Member of the Florida Senate from the 38th district
- José Félix Díaz, Republican, Member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 116th district
- Manny Díaz, Jr., Republican, Member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 103rd district
- Bryan Avila, Republican,Member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 111th district
- Jeanette Núñez, Republican, Member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 119th district
- Carlos Trujillo, Republican, Member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 105th district
- Erik Fresen, Republican, Member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 114th district
- Frank Artiles, Republican, Member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 118th district
- José R. Oliva, Republican, Member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 110th district
- Mike La Rosa, Republican, Member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 42nd district
- José Javier Rodríguez, Democrat, Member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 112th district
- Vincent Prieto, Democrat, Speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly (2014–Present), Member of the New Jersey General Assembly from the 32nd Legislative District (2004–Present)
- Angelica Jimenez, Democrat, Member of the New Jersey General Assembly from the 32nd Legislative District (2012–Present)
- Marlene Caride, Democrat, New Jersey
- Nicole Malliotakis, Republican, Staten Island, Member of the New York General Assembly from the 64th district
- Art Linares, Republican, Westbrook, Member of the Connecticut State Senate from the 33rd district
- Moises “Mo” Denis, Democrat, Member of the Nevada Senate from the 2nd district
Eduardo Aguirre (R) served as Vice Chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States in the George W. Bush administration and later named Director of Immigration and Naturalization Services under the Department of Homeland Security. In 2006, Eduardo Aguirre was named US ambassador to Spain. Cuban Americans have also served other high-profile government jobs including White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu ®
Florida-based businessman and Cuban exile Elviro Sanchez made his multimillion-dollar fortune by investing the proceeds of his family's fruit plantations. He is one of the most low-profile philanthropists in the Southern States.
Cuban-Americans also serve in high-ranking judicial positions as well.
- Jorge Labarga, Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court
- Danny Boggs is currently a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
- Raoul G. Cantero, III, served as a Florida Supreme Court justice until stepping down in 2008.
- Faustino J. Fernandez-Vina, is currently an Associate Justice on the New Jersey Supreme Court
Cubans in public service with United States federal government
- Eduardo Aguirre, former United States Ambassador to Spain and Andorra
- Ana Carbonell, Chief of Staff for Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart
- Adolfo A. Franco, former Assistant Administrator for United States Agency for International Development Latin America and the Caribbean (U.S. Agency for International Development)
- Emilio González, former United States Army colonel and former director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Service.
- Carlos Gutierrez, former Kellogg CEO and former United States Secretary of Commerce
- Nilda Pedrosa, Chief of Staff for Representative Mario Diaz-Balart and former Senior Policy Director for Senator Mel Martinez
- Alberto Piedra, former United States Ambassador to Guatemala
- Hugo Llorens, former United States Ambassador to Honduras
Other politically active Cuban Americans
- Mauricio Claver-Carone, Washington Director of the US-Cuba Democracy PAC, Capitol Hill Cubans Blog
- Gus Machado, Treasurer of the US-Cuba Democracy PAC
- Remedios Diaz Oliver, Prolific Republican (GOP) fundraiser
- Otto Reich, former senior official in the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. He held the position of Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs and US Special Envoy to the Western Hemisphere for the Secretary of State in the Bush administration.
- Armando F. Valladares, former Cuban prisoner for twenty-two years, American ambassador to the Human Rights Commission of the UN in Geneva during the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and author of the book-testimonial Contra toda esperanza (Against All Hope) about his life in Cuban jails.
- Eugenio Llamera, President of La Federacion Mundial de ExPresos Politicos
- Sylvia Iriondo, President of MAR por Cuba
- John Suarez, Founder of Free Cuba Foundation
Politically active Cuban authors and academics
- Frank Calzón, Executive Director of Center for a Free Cuba .
- Antonio de la Cova, academic
- Carlos Eire, T. Lawrason Riggs Professor of History and Religious Studies at Yale University and author of Waiting for Snow in Havana
- Andy García author, actor, producer, director
- Rafael Román Martel poet, journalist
- Ricardo Pau-Llosa, poet and pioneering critic and curator of modern Latin American art
- Enrique Ros, prolific author on historical topics
- Dr. Eduardo J. Padron, President, Miami Dade College, American Council on Education – Innovator of the Year, Children’s Hero Award, Hispanic Achievement Award in Education
- Mirta Ojito,Pulitzer Prize Winner, Professor, Columbia University School of Journalism, Author, “Finding Mañana”, American Society of Newspaper Editors Award winning journalist
- Gustavo Perez Firmat, Feinson Professor of Humanities, Columbia University, Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Award winning author and poet
- Orlando Gutierrez Boronat, Former Professor of Political Science, Director of The Cuban Assembly of Resistance
Spanish Language Media
- Ninoska Pérez Castellón, prominent Cuban-American radio and television talk show host on Radio Mambi 710 AM
- Lourdes D’Kendall, prominent Cuban-American radio talk show host on Radio Mambi 710 AM
- Armando Perez-Roura, prominent Cuban-American radio talk show host, former director of Radio Mambi 710 AM, now on La Poderosa 670 AM
- Martha Flores, prominent Cuban-American radio talk show host on Radio Mambi 710 AM
- Tomas Garcia Fuste, prominent Cuban radio and television talk show host
- Rey Anthony, third-generation Cuban-American radio talk show host on Actualidad Radio 1020/1040 AM
- Lourdes Ubieta, prominent Venezuelan-born Cuban-American radio talk show host on Actualidad Radio 1020/1040 AM
- Agustín Acosta, prominent Cuban-American radio talk show host on Actualidad Radio 1020/1040 AM
See also
- Cuban American
- Cuba-United States relations
- Diaspora politics in the United States
- Ethnic interest groups in the United States
- Lobbying in the United States
- Opposition to Fidel Castro
- Foreign policy interest group
External links
- Anti-Castro Politicians Frozen Out as U.S. Eases Island's Isolation by Daniel Dombey, Financial Times, June 3, 2009