#1061: Haitians in Cuba : Dreyfuss adds (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Joel Dreyfuss <jdreyfuss@ibm.net>

There may be tens of thousands of Cubans who trace their roots to Haiti;
just as they traveled to Santo Domingo, thousands of Haitians went to Cuba,
primarily Oriente, to cut cane. Unlike in Santo Domingo, they were accepted
in Cuba and many settled and became Cuban citizens. Haitians, who like to
claim anyone with a vaguely-Haitian name or appearance, have sworn for a
couple of generations that the great singer Celia Cruz, had Haitian origins.

However, if Cuba was viewed as a step up before the Cuban Revolution,
Haitians voted with their paddles after Castro took power and headed farther
North.