The Luis J. Botifoll Oral History Project collection includes videos, outlines, and selected transcripts of oral history interviews conducted principally with members of the first generations of Cubans exiled since the Cuban Revolution. Interviews with political prisoners, visual artists, community activists, and others help to capture Cuba's undocumented history, culture, and people, as well as the exile experience.
The Botifoll Oral History Project was launched in April 2008 with the support of the AMIGOS of the Cuban Heritage Collection. The Project aims to record and provide access to these testimonies in support of the Cuban Heritage Collection's efforts to document the Cuban experience on the island and in the diaspora.
The interviews are made available online as they are completed and can be accessed from the Univeristy of Miami Digital Collections.
Brother of Frank País, who is regarded by many as the one revolutionary leader who could rival Fidel Castro in the struggle against Batista. Frank was killed in the Santiago de Cuba´s uprising that was planned to unfold at the time that Castro was reaching Cuban soil aboard the “Granma.”
Co-founder of the Church of Lukumí Babalú Aye in Hialeah, Florida and Santeria priest and advocate. In 1992, his church won the U.S. Supreme Court case against the City of Hialeah over a city ordinance barring the sacrifice of animals during Santeria religious ceremonies.
Cuban exile widowed in 1961s Bay of Pigs invasion, Portela was motivated by a religious experience in the 1980s to sell her Miami home and move to Guatemala where she founded Misioneros del Camino (Missioners of the Road), an orphanage that currently has its own school and clinic.
Cuban activist and dissident who co-founded the anti-Castro organization Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil (DRE). Salvat actively worked against the Castro government in Cuba, and continued his dissident activities after his exile in 1960. He currently directs the publishing house Ediciones Universales in Miami.
Sonia Calero, a Cuban Rumba dancer, ballerina and choreographer. Calero is recognized worldwide for her work in Cuban dance with her late husband, Alberto Alonso. She was born in Havana to a working class family, and at eleven years old she enrolled at Municipal Conservatory of Havana specializing in ballet, later dancing for the Ballet Nacional de Cuba and the Conjunto Experimental de Danza. She and her husband Alberto Alonso left Cuba in 1993 for the United States where they continued their teaching and choreography.
Actress in radio, theater and TV in Cuba in the 1940s and 1950s, who married actor Carlos Badías. Her son, Carlos Alberto Badías, was a famous romantic lead in the early 1950s who later became a political prisoner under Castro
Aleida Leal, a Cuban-American journalist and radio personality who is well-known on Spanish language radio in South Florida. She started her career as a voice actress in Cuba doing commercials. In Miami, she was the host of several popular radio programs, worked on television, and voiced radio dramas. One of her best-known programs was Cita con las estrellas on WQBA Radio Miami, a celebrity talk show.
Havana-born, Sephardic Jewish activist who joined a group of Cuban Jews to fight for Israel's independence. Upon returning to Cuba, he left as an exile in 1961, living in Israel and New York before settling in Miami and opening the clothing store, Bichachi Originals. Bichachi was a founder of Temple Moses and served as president of the Cuban-Sephardic Hebrew Congregation.
Playwright and producer known for his productions of teatro bufo cubano in Miami and has kept his sala teatro open in Calle Ocho for over a quarter of a century. He is also a distinguished actor with a career in Hispanic radio in the US and a frequent zarzuela performer with Sociedad Pro-Arte Grateli.
Cuban physician and former member of the Movimiento de Recuperación Revolucionaria (MRR), a Cuban counterrevolutionary group. Dr. Cao was arrested and condemned to 20 years in prison as a political prisoner. He is the author of La verdadera Republica de Cuba (Ediciones Universal, 2008).
Cuban poet, activist, and political prisoner. Cruz Varela led a group of anti-Castro dissidents called Critico Alternativo, which published a manifesto of grievances and reforms against the government in 1991. She was awarded the Liberal Institute Prize for Freedom in 1992.
Cuban activist of Haitian descent who served as president of Municipios de Cuba en el Exilio in the early 1970s, which probably made him the first black Cuban to preside over a Cuban exile organization in Miami.
Cuban-born lawyer who became the first Cuban-American appointed and later elected as a judge in the Third and Eleventh Judicial Circuit Courts of Florida.
Cuban post-modernist visual artist who is part of the "80s Golden Generation." Luna and her family obtained political asylum in the US during the Mariel Boatlift of 1980, after which she established a studio in Miami in 1994.
Considered to be the Cuban who infiltrated the island more times that anyone else as a CIA agent and member of the Movimiento de Recuperación Revolucionaria (MRR). He also was one of the four "plumbers" in the Watergate scandal.
Famous “comandante” of Castro’s guerrilla, first Commander-in-Chief of Camagüey province. Jailed for 20 years for denouncing Castro’s communist leanings in October 1959. Director of the anti-Castro exile group “Cuba Independiente y Democratica.”
Abreu, a leader in the underground and guerrilla movements in Cuba in the early 1960s, was instrumental in setting up training camps for anti-Castro exile’s forces in Central America. Prominent in Cuban exiles organizations in Miami, at 75 infiltrated Cuba trying to stir up resistance against Castro’s dictatorship, captured, imprisoned and later released.
Angelita Castany, a Cuban vedette, singer, actress, and entertainer who relocated to Mexico following the Cuban Revolution. She is most famous for singing and performing pieces by Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona.
Cuban-born architect who was influential in developing Miami’s modern look. At the age of 26, he designed Marine Stadium, which was constructed in 1963 on Virginia Key, Florida.
Renowned Cuban-American salsa singer and music producer. Chirino has recorded over 20 albums since 1974, winning a Grammy in 2006 for Best Salsa/Merenge Album.
Well-known sociologist, and professor emeritus at Miami Dade College. A Bay of Pigs veteran and former political prisoner, Dr. Clark is the author, among other works, of Cuba, mito y realidad (Saeta Ediciones, 1992).
Bay of Pigs veteran who chaired the Florida Democratic Party from 1976 to 1980. By appointment by Florida governor Reubin Askew in 1973, he was the first Hispanic to serve on the Miami-Dade County School Board. A former president of the Veteran’s Association of Brigade 2506, Durán was asked to step down for his support of a dialogue with the Cuban government to bring about a transition in Cuba. He founded the Cuban Committee for Democracy in 1993.
One of the thousands of Spaniards who emigrated from Galicia to Cuba and established himself in the Cuban middle class of the 1950s. Gómez Gómez followed his Cuban family and friends into exile in Miami, where he was one of the founders and still is the driving force of the Casa de Santa Marta de Ortigueira
Gustavo de los Reyes, a former ranch owner in Cuba. After Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba, de los Reyes conspired with William Morgan, an American double agent who later reported him to the Castro authorities, leading to de los Reyes’ arrest and imprisonment at the Isle of Pines prison in Cuba. Eventually released as an exile, de los Reyes continued his work in the ranching industry in the United States and Venezuela with Texas ranching mogul Bob Kleberg, whom de los Reyes met while ranching in Cuba.
Operatic and lyric singer and musical director who performed with the Orquesta Filarmónica de La Habana, and directed the Teatro de la Opera de La Habana in Cuba. He has performed in Spain, Italy, New York and Miami, sharing the stage with legendary performers such as Renata Tebaldi and Monserrat Caballé.
Founder and CEO of Leon Medical Centers (LMC), a seven-clinic medical group that focuses on healthcare for Hispanic seniors. With his father, León ran Miami’s first pre-paid medical center, Clinica Asociación Cubana.
Known as “El Guajiro Rivera,” a living legend among the anti-Castro guerrilla forces of the 1960s. Captured by Castro’s army with so many bullet wounds that he was left to die, he survived and spent many years in prison.
Former member of the House of Representatives of Cuba pre-Castro. Because of his close relationship with the Batista family and government, he was among the first Cubans exiled in Miami in 1959 and has served as president of Municipios de Cuba en el Exilio and the Junta Patriótica Cubana, prominent organizations of their time.
Journalist and political leader of the Cuban exile community in Venezuela for over 35 years, with extensive knowledge of that community's development and political influence. Romaní is now a twice-exiled Cuban in Miami.
Graduate of the Civic-Military Institute at Ceiba del Agua, Cuba, who started an agricultural equipment design and manufacturing firm in Havana. Exiled in 1961, he continued in that line of work and today is the largest manufacturer of field equipment for the sugar industry, with accounts in nearly 35 countries. Also prominent in Cuban exile activities, he was one of the founders of the Cuban American National Foundation in 1981 together with the late Jorge Mas Canosa, and he is a leading figure in the Cuban American Liberty Council following a split from CANF after Mas Canosa's death.
Alonso, a Miami nun who directed Havana's Colegio La Inmaculada school for girls before the Cuban Revolution and later founded Las Hermanas de la Caridad (Sisters of Charity), an organization that distributes food and medical supplies to communities in need in Cuba and Latin America.
Álvarez Guedes is one of the best-known Cuban humorist in the Spanish-speaking world. A radio, TV, theater, and movie actor since the 1940s, with over 20 bestselling recordings of stand-up comedy, Alvarez Guedes is a successful entertainment entrepreneur in multiple fields.
Cuban-American writer and academic who has published numerous books, both fiction and nonfiction. She is the associate director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University.
Cuban poet and last surviving “recitadora” of the 1940s and 1950s, who attained fame in 1959, at the triumph of the Revolution, for her rendering of the Marcha triunfal del Ejército Rebelde, only to became a Cuban exiled soon after.
Cao, interviewed with Neida Revuelta,are the husband and wife Cuban folksingers best known for their Spanish-language radio program with La Poderosa station in Miami.
Father Sergio Carrillo, a veteran paratrooper at the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1960 and later exiled to the United States. He was ordained in the Archdiocese of Miami in 1982, and has served as a priest in Miami, Guatemala and Colombia.
Legend of Cuban baseball and distinguished player in the old Cuban professional league and internationally who was elected to the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971.
A defense attorney for many death penalty candidates before Cuba's revolutionary courts, who soon became a target himself of the dictatorship. Dr. González was one of the early Cuban exiles in the New York-New Jersey region, where he has been actively involved in the patriotic and civic endeavors of the area's Cuban community.
Widow of Juan René Betancourt, president of the Federation of Cuban Societies of Color who wrote a number of books about racial discrimination in Cuba in the 1950s. Mrs. Sharpe is owner of the Little Havana Restaurant on Cornelia Street in Manhattan.
Cuban exile who arrived in Miami alone at the age of 16 and went on to be the first Mariel refugee to receive a law degree from the University of Miami. After serving as chief deputy of Miami-Dade County Courts, he started his own real estate company and is now a partner in Florida Value Partners, a real estate investment firm.
One of the founders of the Asociación Pro Cuba (Pro-Cuba Association) of Elizabeth, New Jersey and president of the Junta Patriótica Cubana (Patriotic Cuban Junta) in that area
Civic leader and one of the first Cuban female physicians actively involved in the University of Havana and political struggles of her times. Ferreira is a founding and active member of the Miami-based organization Junta Patriótica Cubana.
Author of radio dramas and television novellas, who found success both in pre-Revolutionary Cuba and after her exile in the United States. Among her most famous works are Soraya, El Angel Perverso, and Lidia Sandoval.
Cuban-American businessman and political figure. Gutiérrez served as CEO of Kellogg’s corporation from 1999-2004, and is attributed as saving the company from bankruptcy. He left his post to join George W. Bush’s administration in 2004, as the 35th US Secretary of Commerce.
Founder and President of Mothers Against Repression (MAR), an organization that fights for the democratization of Cuba. Iriondo is an internationally recognized human rights activist.
José Andreu, Chief of Civil Affairs from the Brigade G5 during the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. After studying philosophy in Germany and management of cooperatives in England, and receiving a law degree from the University of Madrid in Spain, Andreu returned to Cuba in early 1960 and became editor of Villanueva University’s newspaper. As editor of El Quibú, he wrote many articles criticizing Castro’s orientation of the revolution, and in February 1960, he staged a protest with other students against the regime in the Parque Central de la Habana (Havana Central Park). He then caught the attention of intelligence officers at the U.S. embassy in Cuba and was invited to participate in actions against the regime as an exile where was assigned number 2501 in the Brigada Asalto 2506 for being the first person to sign up for the Bay of Pigs operation. Following the invasion of the Bay of Pigs, Andreu was detained for 20 months in Cuba, but returned to Miami in 1962 under an agreement made by the United States and Cuba, and has since remained in exile in the United States.
Cuban-American businesswoman who served as CEO and vice-Chairperson of Bromley Communications, a national advertising and public relations firm. She currently heads her own marketing company, The Levitan Group, Inc
Set designer, stage manager, entertainment entrepreneur, musician, and all-around behind-the-scenes man of Cuban performing arts who helped found Añorada Cuba and Sociedad Pro-Arte Grateli. Menéndez was a TV set designer at CMQ TV in Cuba. As an exile, he traveled the world with the Margot Fontayne Ballet Co before settling in Miami where he is still active in the entertainment industry.
Cuban-born writer who came to Miami on the Mariel Boatlift. He has written numerous plays and dramatic works, as well as a column for Diario Las Américas.
Former Central Intelligence Agency operative best known for leading the interrogation and execution of Ernesto "Che" Guevara in Bolivia in 1967. Rodríguez also participated in the Bay of Pigs invasion, and became president of the Brigade 2506 Veterans Association in 2004.
