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John Garvin

English 023-058
Dr. Blaque

Final Project Topic

Topic: Cuban immigration/ Jose Fernandez/U.S. Media

Thesis:
The inhumane struggles of Cubans immigrating to America since 1959 have been

predominantly overlooked prior to the passing of Jose Fernandez, but his death should be used as

a catalyst for greater ongoing awareness.

Introduction:
Do you see an issue with the way the social media outlets are ran in America? Isnt there

a problem when you only hear about the good in this world and not the bad? Half of the time

they dont even show the real world problems occurring today! (Possibly take this out) Instead of

Lady Gaga kissing someone, Taylor Swift breaking up with another guy, or how tragic it is that

the Golden State Warriors blew a 3-1 lead in the finals, they should be highlighting real life

issues that are occurring. For example, to the common person living in the United States they

were born here but for some it wasnt that easy. Cuban immigrants have been fighting for over

45 years to come and live in a country that isnt tyrannical. Isnt there an issue when the only

time you hear about this is when a successful baseball star passes? The inhumane struggles of

Cubans immigrating to America since 1959 have been predominantly overlooked prior to the

passing of Jose Fernandez, but his death should be used as a catalyst for the U.S. media to

actually start covering things that matter and expand the awareness of these types of issues. This

essay employs news articles, a book, and other verified websites.

Outline:
U.S. medias lack of inciting the American people on real life issues occurring around the
world.
Speak briefly upon when immigration from Cuba to America began and give a general
insight of why.
Talk briefly of the passing of baseball star Jose Fernandez and why his death is much
bigger than what we all think.
Include thesis which is listed above.

Organizational statement:
By Sylvia Rusin, Jie Zong, and Jeanne Batalova. "Cuban Immigrants in the United
States." Migrationpolicy.org. N.p., 07 Jan. 2016. Web. 26 Oct. 2016. - Talks about
population increase of Cubans in America, Freedom Flights, Peter Pan Operation.
"The Cold War Museum." Cold War Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2016.- Talks about
the relation between Russia and Cuba once Fidel Castro took over.
"Jos Fernndez (pitcher)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2016.-
Shows his history from coming to Cuba to give readers a first hand insight on someone
who actually experienced how rough it is.
By failing to Cover Ourselves, We Have Made Ourselves Complacent, Virtually Assured
That Because We Are Not Likely to Be Scrutinized by Our Peers, We Are Safe in Our
Careless or Abusive Practices.. "Current Problems in the Media." Www.dailysource.org.
N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2016 - Talks about statistics on how Americans dont believe in
the social media, the issues with playing up or dwelling upon certain issues to arouse the
people, and the nonsense they put on instead of the real issues.
https://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/The-Bay-of-Pigs.aspx
http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/cuban-immigrants-united-states

Body paragraph 1:
Topic sentence: Cubas relations and history since the 1940s is one that many countries never
seen before.
The government in Cuba in the 1940s was the first successful take of democracy the
Republic of Cuba ever had. Ran by their very first president at the time Fulgencio Batista.
The country in American standards enjoyed a 12 year normal political life. As in you
could vote freely for who you wanted and the person with the most votes would win.
In 1952 Fulgencio was afraid of competition and took over the country by coup d'tat.
He cancelled all elections and if anyone had a problem they would essentially die.
Fidel Castro was running for office and was angered by this so he took action.
He started with speech and getting the word across about a revolt, then it went to
Moncada barracks attacks, then his imprisonment, the guerilla warfare tactics, and the
exile of Batista.
Then in 1959 the communist/socialist leader of Fidel Castro took office in Cuba.
Transition sentence:
Wouldnt you think that the leader who was for the people and fought against a dictator would
be a better leader? Well actually it was the polar opposite.
Body paragraph 2:
Topic sentence: Fidel Castros rule wasnt only bad for other nations but it made his own citizens
want to flee their own country.
Fidel Castros communist ways showed promise to Russia because they finally had
someone like them. Their ties became stronger than ever before as soon as Fidel Castro
took office.
Communism wants equality for all so theres no class system essentially so the upper and
middle class that already lived in Cuba was afraid for their well being. Fidel Castro was
known for persecuting these types of people, so many of them fled to seek political
asylum.
The first wave of Cubans leaving Cuba was commonly referred to as the Cuban Exile.
They left because the Cuban government chose to confiscate the properties they had,
having no place to live and having to live like everyone else didnt seem fair so they
decided to leave.
The first wave of Cubans mostly fled to Miami and their stories were very demoralizing.
It seemed like their country took their identity from them because when they came to
America they were forced to leave everything they knew and had behind. Women with
college degrees became maids, doctors became gas station workers, and teachers worked
at car washes.
Transition sentence: The new Cuba to some was an amazing thing but to many it was also the
end of their lives. They left many things behind including family, friends, jobs, money, and
dignity but these people were also pioneers to help for something better.

Body paragraph 3:
Topic sentence: The first wave of Cubans fleeing showed a country only 90 miles away that
something bad was happening. This provoked the United States to help.
With underground systems occurring where Cuban families were conducting secret plans
to send their kids to America, the United States was starting to open their eyes.
Operating Peter Pan was something that took great courage and was the reason that the
second wave of Cuban immigrants made their way to America.
This operation was ran by Father Brian O Walsh and sponsored by the Catholic Welfare
Bureau in 1960. He met a young man by the name of Pedro in his office one day and after
hearing his story about the struggles of coming to America it inspired him to make sure
that kids had a right to live in a country that had opportunities for them.
Over 14,000 unaccompanied children were sponsored to come to America and this is the
largest recorded exodus of unaccompanied minors to ever occur in the Western
Hemisphere (Pedropan.org). But what most people dont know is that the U.S.
department of state is the ones who notified Cuban parents that this was occurring and to
give their kids a shot to get away from communism, an unjust ruler, and someone who
may use their kids as trade value with the Soviet Union.
Transition statement: Operation Peter Pan was just the start of the United States contributing to
the fight against Fidel Castro.

Body paragraph 4:
Topic sentence: The U.S. is known as the big brother of the world and their nickname was in full
effect after 1960.
Tensions started flaring when a French freighter was exploded and had over 100
casualties in the month of March in 1960. Castro said it was part of the U.S. tried to
sabotage them but the explosion of the La Coubre raised tensions.
In the same month President Eisenhower constructed the CIA to train, teach, and equip
Cuban refugees with enough power that they could eventually overthrow Fidel Castro.
And with Cuban ties with the USSR growing stronger the United States has had enough
with Castro and cut off all political and economic ties with Cuba.
On April 15th of 1961 the Bay of Pigs occurred this where over 1400 Cuban exiles were
on foot and the United States had over a total of 10 bombers to destroy the coast. Fidel
Castro sent over 20,000 troops to fight against the 1400 man army and won. Also
shooting down U.S. bombers and causing the United States to bargain a deal of 52
million dollars of medicine and baby food for the exchange of the captured bomber pilots
and cuban exile soldiers.
With over 180,000 Cuban immigrants in the United States now, they felt like it is their
duty to save those who couldnt be here. So instead of trying to bring all of Cuba to
America the United States launched operation Ortsac to assassinate Castro. While this
operation was in effect the United States found Soviet missile launch facilities in America
and tensions were at an all time high. These times were called the Cuban Missile Crisis.
It was a short time because negotiations between America and the USSR made it clear
that they didnt want Castro to have his hands on so many nuclear weapons so in the year
of 1962 USSR agreed to take all their missiles back to Russia.
Transition sentence: With flares high between the United States, Russia, and Cuba the U.S. took
a smarter route to help those that wanted it.
Body paragraph 5:
Topic sentence: Lyndon B. Johnson made it clear that under any circumstances he will do all he
can to help Cubans find freedom and that is what he tried to do.
Since the Bay of Pigs failed a lot of Cubans were stuck in Cuba for over 4 years unless
they chose to flee the country risking their lives on the way to Miami.
Lyndon B. Johnson created the Freedom Flights to insure that anyone who wanted to seek
freedom could. He invested over 12 million dollars into this operation. It would cause
planes to leave from Miami, land in Camarioca take as many that could fit, and fly back
to Miami. This operation was put in place because thousands of Cubans died from 1961-
1965 trying to traverse the Florida straits, the crazy tides and waves, in small creaky
boats that fell apart on the way to America.
In Cuba over 1 million people were on the waiting list to be on these freedom flights, in a
poll over 2 million wanted to leave the country but some couldnt get their visas
approved, and to put it in perspective the population of Cuba in 1965 was roughly 7
million (roughly 32% of the country wanted to leave and it couldve been more but
sources say they were afraid to speak out).
The people on the waiting list their lives were made into hell. Castro tortured them
essentially because through policies he was forced to let them leave but for those who
couldnt but wanted to he ruined them. He took away their jobs, took their land from
them, tried to arrest them for preposterous things, called enemies of the state and were
harassed by Castro supporters. They lived in hell until they could leave and over 700,000
of them were forced to stay because Castro stopped accepting applications for visas and
economic tensions were at stake.
These freedom flights in hindsight left 700,000 people behind but successfully changed
the lives of 300,000 people. United States has truly put their necks on the line for Cuban
immigrants and Cuba has a nation.
Transition sentence: Since the United States has helped Cuba and Cuban immigrants for over 50
years why hasnt the U.S. media covered any of issues in Cuba, any of the issues Cuban
immigrants face while trying to come to America, and belittle Cuban immigrants situations by
not highlighting their cry for help in the last score (20 years).

Body paragraph 6:
Topic sentence: U,S, media has been known to highlight and show fake things that are occurring
around the world, fabricating stories, not highlighting the real things happening, and show
unnecessary stories that no one cares about.
If someone that was born in the 1970s or 1980s was asked about Cuba and what they
know about it, they wouldnt be able to tell you much. But can you blame them? Our
media in this country likes to show things that arent real. For example, they talk about
Taylor Swift on the news, for about three weeks the main story was how Golden State
blew a 3-1 lead in the NBA finals, when their are people risking their lives to come to
America to seek freedom!
According to the American society of Newspaper editors about 35% of people can find
errors in the news factual and even grammatical. According to polls about 73% of adults
dont even trust their own countries news! Of the 50% of people that have first hand
knowledge about news articles only 51% of them can say that the news has reported the
story accurately.
These studies are a prime example of the issues that are occurring in our country. Our
media is supposed to be our guide to know what is actually happening outside of our
country because the citizens arent around the world to figure it out. When over 73% of
people not being able to believe whats happening around the world the U.S. government
needs to tell theyre directing their media incorrectly.
Over 50 years ago the United States was putting their neck on the line for a country and
for people who were seeking freedom. The only reason why Cuba is ever in the news
now is You really need to get to Cuba, and heres how to do it from the Huffington
post. Looking at the title you think itll talk about history and eye opening experiences
but instead its about having a great college experience in a beautiful country and
experiencing beautiful sceneries.
Why isnt their a story or articles documenting the lives of many that are lost trying to
come here? Or the fact that over 30,000 Cuban immigrants actually flee here illegally per
month to try and live better lives?
The U.S. media is only their for the money and you can tell because the only reason why
we are talking about it now is because of the baseball star by the name of Jose Fernandez
who tragically passed away in a boating accident.
Transition statement: Media in this country is ours! We need to take it back because we have the
right to actually know what is going on around the world and we have the right to make them
document what most people dont know.
Body paragraph 7:
Topic sentence: Jose Fernandez is being the catalyst for the highlight of the struggles Cuban
immigrants face while coming to America because his story was unbelieveable.
Jose Fernandez born in Santa Clara on the year of 1992 has an unbelievable story with his
father leaving him in 2005 to come to America. He was practicing baseball everyday
because that was his passion.
He failed to come to America three times! After every unsuccessful attempt was he
sentenced to a prison term. His life was literally being put on the line every time he tried
to come here. It was either he couldve died on the way to America or he couldve died
when returning to Cuba in prison or by Castro supporters heckling him.
On his fourth attempt in 2007 Jose, his mother, and his sister were on their way to seek
freedom. Out the corner of his eyes he saw someone struggling in the water when they
fell overboard. With no hesistation he jumped in the water not knowing who it was or
what happened.
When grabbing the person and turning them around to take them back to the boat he saw
it was his mother! That was the prime example of who he was as a person. He didnt care
who needed help or when they needed it or what it might have done to him he always
helped them. They came to Mexico in 2007 and moved to Tampa Bay in 2008.
Senior year in highschool was his prime because he signed a 1.3 million bonus to the
Cincinatti Reds and had a record of 13-1 with an ERA of 2.35 and won rookie of the year.
In the years of 2014 and 2015 he faced many injuries but the biggest memory of those
years was that the Miami Marlins organization pulled some strings and paid a lot of
money for Joses grandmother who previously wasnt allowed to leave Cuba to come and
surprise him with her now being able to live here.
It was heartbreaking watching their reactions because if you think about how many
families that are broken up because of the inability for most to come here it really hurts.
In the year of 2016 he was 16-8 best record of career had the most strikeouts in Marlins
history in a season with 253. An ERA of 2.86, and a .691 winning percentage on track to
win the Cy Young award for the NL.
September 25, 2016 he was pronounced dead in the early morning from a boating
accident. A young man with an amazing heart, amazing story, and an amazing ability to
play baseball was gone forever. This provoked the media to start covering how hard it is
to come to America from Cuba only using his death for money essentially. Its sad to see
that thats how the business works.
Its even worse when the toxicology report came out and showed he was drinking and
over twice the legal limit and also had cocaine in his system. Media will use this heavily
in their reports and people will no longer look at him the same and it truly hurts all the
fans of baseball as well as the citizens of Cuba.
Transition statement: He was a star and a role model to many. His life should be used as a
catalyst for ongoing awareness about Cuba and Cuban immigrants because he is one of few that
proudly told his story.

Conclusion paragraph:
Topic sentence: Cuba has its issues with leaders and the corruption of their government by not
letting their citizens living their lives to their full potentials. United States has its issues as well
because it has media outlets that can only seem to highlight real life issues when it could cut
them a check. Belittling major worldly stories but only using them when a baseball star dies and
not even giving him the credit hes due because his death involved drugs and alcohol. The
inhumane struggles of Cubans immigrating to America since 1959 have been predominantly
overlooked prior to the passing of Jose Fernandez, but his death should be used as a catalyst for
the U.S. media to actually start covering things that matter and expand the awareness of these
types of issues.

1st Body Paragraph:

Cubas relations and history since the 1940s is one that many countries never seen nor

experienced before. The government in Cuba in the 1940s was the first successful take of

democracy the Republic of Cuba ever had. Ran by their very first president at the time Fulgencio

Batista. The country in American standards enjoyed their 12 year political life. As in you could

vote freely for whoever you wanted and they would win. In 1952 Fulgencio was afraid of the

competition striking him so he took over the country by coup d'tat. He cancelled all elections

and if anyone had an issue they would die. Fidel Castro was running for office when it was

cancelled and was angered by this so he took action. He started with speech and getting the word

across about a revolt, then it lead to Moncada barracks attacks, his imprisonment, the guerilla

warfare tactics, and eventually the exile of Batista. Then in 1959 the communist or self

proclaimed socialist leader of Fidel Castro took over Cuba. Wouldnt you think that the leader

who was originally for the people and fought against a dictator would be a better leader? Well

actually it was the polar opposite.

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