Third World Miami

I was mildly amused to discover that Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post just wrote a book titled Third World America just before I sat down to write this piece.  Although I haven’t read her book yet, from what I gleaned from her recent television interview is that it has more to do with America selling out to special interest and big business for profit, at the expense of America’s future; comparing the US to a banana republic.

The obvious difference between this article and Huffington’s book is that the focus is on South Florida.  Whereas, the former looks at the deterioration of America as a whole from an unethical, inept and morally bankrupt political standpoint, Third World Miami views America’s decline from the Florida citizen’s visceral point of view.

Despite America’s dubious preoccupation with race and ethnicity, immigrants and foreign citizens flock to this country because of the economic opportunities, religious freedom and government handouts. Once within the borders of these United States, the likelihood to further corrupt an increasingly immoral and unethical capitalist society becomes easier because federal, state and local governments are, for the most part, pushovers.

Over the last 50 years, Latin Americans from various countries and the Caribbean have arrived in Miami.  But overwhelmingly, Cubans have had the greatest impact on Miami’s political, economic and cultural climate than any other Latin American group.

The Cuban revolution triggered a mass exodus of Cubans flooding into Miami between 1959 and 1961.   Until 1965, a continuous stream of refugees escaped the country when thousands more poured in following Castro’s decision to allow relatives of exiles to leave. An agreement between Cuba and the United States was reached allowing two daily flights of refugees and by 1973 nearly a half million Cubans had arrived in Miami.

In 1980 the Mariel boatlift brought the third wave of Cuban refugees into Miami making it home to the highest concentration of foreign-born minorities in the United States.  Moreover, many were criminals and statistics show that less than 20 percent were professionals.

America’s incentive for allowing the influx of refugees was politically motivated.  The U.S. wanted a public condemnation of communism for the world to see. Allowing Cuban refugees would be an indictment on communism.  However, the price of ignoring the economic impact on the decision would soon become due.

In 1994, President Bill Clinton announced the reversal of the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, recognizing the adverse economic impact Cuban refugees would have on the United States.  Clinton stated:

“It is my belief that the American people ... do not want to see another Mariel boat lift …We had jails open, we had mental hospitals open, all in an attempt to export all the problems of Cuba to the United States. We tried it that way once. It was wrong then and it's wrong now, and I'm not going to let it happen again...”

Today, the direct and indirect cost of Cuban immigration has bogged down the already depressed economy of South Florida. With approximately 50,000 new immigrants moving to South Florida every year, the economic toll will force Florida and Washington lawmakers to divert billions of dollars in public funds to provide for the basic needs of poor refugees escaping the poverty and bankrupt economy of Cuba.

The influx of refugees exceeds the quota of the 1994-95 U.S.-Cuba Migration Accords by an unsustainable 150 percent.  With South Florida’s unemployment rate 5 percentage points higher than the national average, these numbers will only fuel an already disproportionately high crime and corruption rate.

Running scared out of fear of being ousted from office as the Cuban-Americans’ political capital strengthens, Florida and Washington policymakers cave-in to the Cubans, ignoring established policies such as immigration limits, legal documentation and bilingualism.  As lawmakers turn a blind eye, corruption increases.

Recent headlines document not only street level crime, but Miami’s political corruption is also well documented.  From horse mutilations in South Miami to law enforcement corruption where a Miami cop who stole a car crash victim's ATM card and used it to take cash from his account, to alleged Mayoral corruption led by a Cuban-American administration.

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez's recent budget saw property taxes increase by $178 million and gave a $132 million raise to county employees including an 11 percent raise to his chief of staff, Denis Morales, for a total compensation package of $206,000.  At the same time foreclosures are rampant and the unemployment rate is among the highest in the nation at 14.4 percent – almost 5 percent higher than the national average. Businessman Norman Braman and concerned citizens of Miami-Dade County have launched a petition to recall Mayor Alvarez.

Above and beyond the monetary cost of absorbing such unprecedented numbers of an already over saturated South Florida, the socioeconomic, political and cultural landscape is forever transformed. Indeed, Miami seems like a third world country.

With Miami-Dade relenting to bilingualism in the 90’s, spanish is fast becoming the dominant language.  In lower middle-class Cuban neighborhoods, chickens and roosters roam backyards.  At fast-food establishments, there are some businesses that have no English speaking personnel on staff.  Rickety kiosks manned predominately by Cubans line the walkways outside the Miami-Dade courthouse. Street vendors weave in and out of heavy traffic on busy streets hawking everything from bottled water and raw seafood, to produce and wilting flowers without fear of inspection from health department officials.  Blaring spanish music and jabbering Cubans greet Americans on any given day.

Many Miami-Dade County residents have fled, moving  further north to Broward county; to Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton and Palm Beach county to escape the third world atmosphere and degraded neighborhoods.  Whatever the future holds for South Florida largely depends on the decisions made today.  But what is assured,  South Florida will never be restored to pre-immigrant condition.