MADRID, Spain.- Little Havana, whose name clearly refers to the capital of Cuba, is the heart of the Cuban diaspora in Miami, United States.
Located in Miami-Dade County, in the 1930s it was a flourishing Jewish neighborhood. After 1959, with the arrival of Fidel Castro to power, many Cubans began to migrate to Little Havana. Since then it has been the center of numerous activities in opposition to the island’s dictatorship.
Cuban air is breathed in its streets: restaurants with typical Cuban food, Caribbean music, its inhabitants do not lose the habit of playing dominoes.
It currently has a population of around 90,000 inhabitants, mostly Latin Americans, mainly Cubans, followed by Colombians, Dominicans and Nicaraguans.
The eight street
Life in Little Havana revolves around Calle Ocho: shops, cigar shops, restaurants and galleries abound.
At the beginning of this street is the Parque de la Memoria Cubana, where numerous sculptures and monuments recall events in the history of Cuba. The Museum of the Cuban Diaspora is located in this same park.
Calle Ocho also has its own Walk of Fame, with stars for exiled Cuban artists like Celia CruzGloria Estefan and Willy Chirino.
Every year a festival is held on this street featuring a Caribbean carnival, which is attended by more than a million people.
Other essential places
Among other representative places of Little Havana are Domino Park, where the elderly of the neighborhood meet to play dominoes or chess; and the Plaza de la Cubanidad, located north of Calle Ocho, where there is a map of Cuba sculpted in bronze with the phrase by José Martí: “Palm trees are brides waiting.”
In 2017 Little Havana was named a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
In making this recognition, Stephanie Meeks, President and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, stated, “Little Havana is a symbol of the immigrant experience in the United States and a thriving and totally unique place that thousands of people call home.”
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