Word: castros
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Before Castro came to power in 1959, there were only about 50,000 Cubans living in the U.S. But the Immigration and Naturalization Service estimates that at least 750,000 Cubans have settled here over the past 20 years. Because the number is determined by those aliens who register each January, an INS spokesman admits: "We know that it is low," It might even be as high as 1 million-with some 30,000 more new joining their ranks...
...restaurants sipping cafe cubano. With 69,000 immigrants, many of whom fled here in the 1960s, this area has the largest Cuban community in the U.S. outside Miami, and many of the established exiles have opened their homes to the newcomers. "I never thought that Castro would let us go," says Ricardo Colas Estrada, 22, who spent seven days waiting in the Peruvian embassy and is now living with a family in Union City. "I had nothing much to eat, nothing to wear. There was no future for the young in Cuba today...
Cuban leaders have also been trying to calm fears that some of the refugees may be criminals. Actually, violence of another kind is already established here. Omega 7, a clandestine anti-Castro group reputedly based in Union City, has claimed responsibility for 20 bombings in Manhattan and New Jersey during the past five years. "What happens if some of the refugees coming are Castro agents?" asks a middle-aged businessman. "There will be shootouts all over the place...
...such concerns do not seem to faze the newcomers. In their view, the worst is surely over. Jose Barbarena, 43, spent 14 years in Cuban prisons for fighting against the Castro regime. Says he: "I learned English because I never lost faith that I would some day come here and be free...
Having urged the construction of a tunnel under East Berlin, which allowed the CIA to tap into communications within the Eastern bloc, Harvey developed a reputation for accomplishing the impossible. That proved his undoing. When the Kennedy brothers ordered a secret operation to overthrow Castro, Harvey was put in charge. He employed all the tricks of his trade, including the recruitment of Mafia figures for a rubout, but he failed. After that, it was all downhill as he drank away his frustrations and died of a heart attack...