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.
