The Revolution Is for the Children: The Politics of Childhood in Havana and Miami, 1959-1962 (Envisioning Cuba)

"Since 1959, the Cuban revolutionary government has proudly proclaimed that "the revolution is for the children." Many Cuban Americans reject this claim, asserting that they chose exile in the United States to protect their children from the evils of "Castro-communism." Anita Casavantes Bradford's analysis of the pivotal years between the Revolution's triumph and the 1962 Missile Crisis uncovers how and when children were first pressed into political service by ideologically opposed Cuban communities on both sides of the Florida Straits. Casavantes Bradford argues that, in Havana, the Castro government deployed a morally charged "politics of childhood" to steer a nationalist and reformist revolution toward socialism. At the same time, Miami exile leaders put children at the heart of efforts to mobilize opposition to Castro's regime and to link the well-being of Cuban refugees to U.S. Cold War foreign policy objectives. Casavantes Bradford concludes that the 1999 Elian Gonzalez custody battle was the most notorious recent manifestation of the ongoing struggle to define and control Cuban childhood, revealing the persistent centrality of children to Cuban politics and national identity."-- Provided by publisher Contents 8 Acknowledgments 12 Introduction: The Politics of Childhood in Cuba’s Revolution and Exile 16 1 / For the Children: José Martí and the Politics of Cuban Childhood, 1898–1958 33 2 / .La Revolución—es Para los Niños?: The Politics of Childhood and the Origins of Dissent in Revolutionary Cuba 60 3 / Childhood and Civil Society in Revolutionary Cuba 81 4 / Children, Radicalization, and the Cuban Counterrevolution 107 5 / Our Cuban Visitors: Immigration, Race, and the Cold War Politics of Childhood in Miami, 1959–1961 136 6 / To Save Our Children: The Politics of Childhood in the Anti-Castro Struggle, 1959–1962 163 Epilogue: Understanding Elián: The Politics of Childhood in Havana and Miami, 1959–2000 199 Notes 228 Bibliography 242 Index 262