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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.”
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.”
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.
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 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.
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.
