Miami Cuban community's strained relationship with President John F. Kennedy
MIAMI - It was a balmy 80 degrees on December 29th, 1962, at Miami's Orange Bowl when then President John F. Kennedy and wife Jackie welcomed home 1,100 members of the 2506 Brigade that the president's administration had ransomed out of Fidel Castro's jails in the wake of the failure of the Bay of Pigs Operation.
Kennedy addressed the huge crowd saying, "I bring you my nation's respect for your courage and for your cause."
Sixty years later, bring up the name Kennedy to many Cubans and the word from them is often "betrayal." The failed invasion and a decision made by Kennedy at the time still promotes heated discussions about the former president's standing in the Cuban community.
The botched Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis ended with a U.S. pledge to not invade Cuba were in the background at the huge Orange Bowl event. Rafael Montalvo, a member of the Brigade, was there.
"Him being there was a sign of respect for us and we really appreciated that. Jackie addresses us saying we are the bravest men in the world, we almost started crying. But yet, when he marched in front of me I couldn't salute. There was something in me that would not let me. I had no bitterness, I had no hate. I was really appreciative but I did not salute as I had no respect for him," said Montalvo.
Montalvo's frank assessment led to the long-held belief that old guard Cubans never really forgave Kennedy, a Democrat. As they gained citizenship and the right to vote, they joined the Republican Party.
That's an urban myth, according to veteran Miami pollster, political operative, and Florida International University professor Dario Marino.
"The truth is, up to 1979 a plurality of Cuban Americans, and there weren't many yet registered to vote, but 47 percent were Democrats and only about a third, 33 percent, were Republicans," he said.
The days the numbers are much bigger, according to a Pew survey in 2020. It found nationwide 58 percent of Cuban American registered voters said they affiliate with or lean toward the Republican Party.
Of course, there is the Bay of Pigs factor. The U.S. had promised air cover for the invasion and at the last moment Kennedy withdrew it, but the men of the 2506 Brigade decided to continue. They ended up getting captured, many were killed.
As Cubans gained citizenship, realizing they were not returning to Cuba, a new but familiar face burst on the scene. Ronald Reagan.
Montalvo remembers Reagan in South Florida just like it was yesterday.
"I mean he came here, he treated us with respect. He recognized us and he espoused all the conservative values that we believe in, which is really what it's all about," said Montalvo.
"Ronald Regan was the first presidential candidate to campaign among Cuban Americans in a very organized and proactive way," said Marino.
Reagan's 1983 visit to the Esquina Tejas Restaurant in Little Havana had a huge impact. That event, where Reagan chatted up the city's Cuban leadership, is legendary lore in the Cuban community. And then there is the flag, a Kennedy promise never fulfilled. The Brigade flag was presented to the young president.
"He told us that he was going to return this flag to us in Cuba. The message that we got is that the fight had not ended and that, that we would go and fight, fight in Cuba," said Montalvo.
That flag currently hangs in Little Havana's Bay of Pig Museum.
It has been 60 years since President Kennedy died in Dallas, some say shot by a man who had connections to, or at least sympathy for, the Castro Revolution. The Castro regimen is still in power and the U.S. is still wrestling with the "Cuba Issue."