Moments after the Marlins announced via press release that they were suspending Guillen for five games Guillen held a press conference to address comments he made in a Time Magazine interview that showed praise to Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.
To people in and from Miami, FL the saga unfolded in an expected fashion. Outside the stadium located in the Little Havana neighborhood there were protesters calling for Guillen's firing. Some local politicians including the chair of the Hispanic Caucus in the Florida Senate joined in those calls. It just seemed to be normal. Person makes Castro comments, Cuban community reacts.
To people that aren't from Miami or have never stepped foot in the city, this looked like a three-ring circus. While the national media coverage seemed over the top, it served one purpose. With interview after interview with local media figures, this incident showed the Cuban community as a united group.
That to say the least is a complete lie.
What this latest episode in Miami's sports and political history has done is expose a divide that exists between the Cuban community and the rest of the Latino community in the city as well as a divide within the Cuban community itself.
First, a look into the Cuban community.
There are three main groups within the Cuban community. There is the first major wave of exiles that came to the city after the 1959 Cuban Revolution, the second major wave of exiles that came in the Mariel boat lifts in 1980, and the descendants of these groups. Deep within the underbelly of these groups there is mainly a generational divide as well as one in the terms of nationalism. The children and grandchildren of the first two groups don't have the same outlook as their elders since they were born here, which is making them a wild card in terms of how the community is evolving. The reason that this fact is not well known outside of South Florida is that the older generation has such a dominant public voice it can silence dissent within its ranks fairly efficiently. This is causing the community to be seen in a distorted view both inside and outside Miami.
Now, to the rest of the Latino community.
Miami not only has largest concentration of Cubans in the United States, but also the largest concentration of Nicaraguans. It also has large concentrations of people from almost every country in Latin America. The vast majority of this community came to this country under completely different circumstances compared to the Cubans in both economic standing when arriving here and in the politics of their homelands. Like the Cubans though, this community is facing a generational gap where the children of the initial immigrants, whether born here or coming at an early age, see themselves more as Americans.
It may seem like the communities have a good relationship, but it's more of an uneasy truce. The uneasiness mainly stems from economic disparity and political representation.
Most of the first wave of Cuban exiles that came here were part of the middle to upper class in Cuban society and brought their wealth with them. That is not the case with the most of the rest of the Latino community. This has caused a form of classism to emerge in the Latino community as a whole in the city.
When it comes to politics, the issue gets a little hairy. Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties are among the strongest Democratic counties in the state of Florida as far as federal elections go except in one area, the regime-like hold Cuban Republicans have in sending people to Congress. Thanks to redistricting efforts by the Republican Party in the Florida Legislature, the congressional maps in Miami-Dade County give the GOP a clear advantage in neighborhoods with large Cuban populations.
I grew up in Miami so I've seen these things first hand. It's an environment where the rules are different when dealing with just one group, especially since that group is the biggest block of the community. Public figures have to know the rules about this community when making even the most casual statements.
Now, having lived outside of Miami for most of my adult life I have seen how the rest of the country views events like this and the Miami community. It's seen as as a circus with the Cuban community serving as the ringleaders. Even with this particular incident the main reaction I got from my friends was "So what, it's just Ozzie being Ozzie." or "Why are these Miami people so damn sensitive?"
Luckily, this incident has allowed for that question to be answered properly.
It's also shown for possibly the first time in this digital age some open dissent from the within the Cuban community.
In a video piece done by SBNation.com reporter Amy K. Nelson, former Miami mayor Joe Carollo called out the hypocrisy of the protesters wanting Guillen fired while keeping quiet about other situations:
Miami Herald columnist, WAXI 790 AM radio host and ESPN2 show host Dan Le Batard on April 10 openly called for the Cuban community to calm down on the radio. He also said that he felt that events such as the Elian Gonzales saga and MLB commissioner Bud Selig bringing American baseball to Cuba in 1999 (and shaking Castro's hand on video) were much worse crimes against the Cuban community.
What Guillen did was stupid in this situation considering the city he works in. The reaction to what he did was either understood or overblown depeniding on where you grew up. What this did do that can bwe seen as a genuine good is shed light into the labrynth that is Miami Latino relations.
If that's the fallout of this situation, then it served its purpose.
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