Joven Cuba inside the Colossus

Chapter Four explores the origins of the Antonio Maceo Brigade, an organization composed of Cuban American students and intellectuals who broke with the anticommunism of their parent’s generation to seek reconciliation with the Cuban government, the reunification of the Cuban diaspora, and the normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations. Shaped by experiences in the Civil Rights and anti–Vietnam War movements, these émigré youth rejected the anti-Castro rhetoric of Cuban exile communities, provoking a campaign of intimidation and terrorism by rightwing Cuban American hardliners. Members of the Brigade traveled to Cuba to reunite with family, learn about the Cuban Revolution’s social achievements, and perform volunteer labor. In the brief warming of diplomatic relations encouraged by the Jimmy Carter administration, visits to Cuba by progressive Cuban Americans helped catalyze a shift in the Cuban government’s relations with the Cuban diaspora, initiating an unprecedented space for Cuban American leftwing politics.