Reflections on Cuban Migration: Interview with Antonio Aja PhD Director, University of Havana’s Center for Demographic Studies

摘要

Dr Aja (pronounced á-ha) himself, is a product of the ebbs and flows of Cuban migration. His father, son of Lebanese merchant immigrants to Cuba, later studied medicine and emigrated to New York. There he met Antonio’s mother, a garment worker and daughter in a poor family of Cuban émigrés. The young couple moved to Tampa, Florida— following a pattern of settlement for Cubans in the USA at the time—where Antonio was born in 1953. The whole family later returned to Cuba, amidst the 1950s rebellion against Batista. They stayed, but relatives are still sprinkled abroad…as they are today for many Cuban families. Dr Aja, says his own history is part of what prompted him to explore the relation of families, demography and migration, the complex subject he has studied for a quarter century. Under the broader scope of health and society, MEDICC Review editors asked Dr. Aja to share insights from his years of research and experience.