2024-01-13 20:40:05
At least 50 Cubans arrive daily at the immigration offices in Louisville, Kentucky, where the population from the island has skyrocketed in recent years and is now reconfiguring the economy and local customs.
A report of BBC shows how Cubans have been changing what was previously an inhospitable migratory possibility and have appropriated important cultural spaces that little by little transform life in Louisville.
More than 50,000 immigrants from the Caribbean nation currently live there in Kentucky, including entrepreneurs, employees, doctors, artists and students who are beginning to call themselves “Kentubanos.”
More than 15,000 have settled in Louisville alone since 2021, as a result of a migratory flow that increased after the anti-government protests of July 11 of that year on the Caribbean island and the subsequent visa exemption by Nicaragua, which facilitated the emigration.
Cubans who have been in the city for more years say that before it was difficult to find a Caribbean food restaurant and now there are several food businesses, such as Sweet Habana, where they come eager to eat roast pork and yuca with mojo, its owner acknowledged. , a woman of about 40 years old.
They have opened food businesses, they told the media that they prefer Kentucky because it has lower taxes, affordable costs of living, job opportunities in large companies such as Amazon, General Electric and UPS, and the possibility of acquiring properties at affordable prices.
There is La Bodeguita de Mima, centers for teaching salsa and the casino, accessible schools for learning English and even a local magazine called Centubanosa guide that publishes guidelines and income and work options for newcomers.
Many already consider Louisville as “the second Miami” in the US.
In September the New York Times stated that Cubans “represent the largest immigrant group in Louisville, and their numbers, which continue to increase, have helped offset the population decline in the county of 770,000 inhabitants, (…), to as young Americans move to larger cities.
Comparatively, Cubans find in Kentucky a favorable environment for entrepreneurship and the search for a new life, unlike what is currently happening in Miami, which has become the least affordable city in the country in terms of housing.
“What you achieve in Miami in 10 years here takes you three or four,” said a BBC interviewee.
According to that outlet, Louisville has undergone a notable cultural transformation, evidenced by the presence of Cuban businesses, signs in Spanish and the sound of salsa and son in the streets. He affirms that the cultural diversity brought by Cubans has enriched the daily lives of Louisville residents.
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