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Cubans in America: Push and Pull Factors of Immigration
Document 2
Communist Threat to the United States Through the Caribbean
U.S. Senate Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, of the Committee on the Judiciary.
Tuesday, May 3, 1960
Excerpt of Testimony of Rafael Lincoln Diaz Balart
Senator DODD. Raise your right hand, please.
Do you solemnly swear the testimony you will give before this subcommittee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Mr. DIAZ BALART. I do.
Senator DODD. Have a chair. You speak English, I believe.
Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, sir, a little bit.
Senator DODD. If you need an interpreter, she will be present.
Mr. DIAZ BALART. Thank you.
Mr. SOURWINE. Your full name, sir?
Mr. DIAZ BALART. Rafael Lincoln Diaz Balart.
Mr. SOURWINE. And your residence?
Mr. DIAZ BALART. I live in New York.
Mr. SOURWINE. You are a lawyer?
Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, sir.
Mr. SOURWINE. Are you a member of the bar of Cuba?
Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, Sir.
Mr. SOURWINE. Are you a member of the bar of any State of the United States?
Mr. DIAZ BALART. No, Sir.
Mr. SOURWINE. Where did you go to school?
Mr. DIAZ BALART. Havana, University, and University of Oriente.
Mr. SOURWINE. When?
Mr. DIAZ BALART. From 1945, when I started Havana University.
Mr. SOURWINE. Did you have a prominent classmate in law school?
Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes. I was a classmate of Premier Castro.
Mr. SOURWINE. You were it, classmate of Fidel Castro?
Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes.
Mr. SOURWINE. Were you formerly a member of the National Legislature of Cuba?
Mr. DIAZ BALART. Yes, Sir.
Mr. SOURWINE. How long have you been in the United States?
Mr. DIAZ BALART. Since January 15,1959.
Mr. SOURWINE. Why did you leave Cuba and come here?
Mr. DIAZ BALART. I left Cuba, on December 20, 1958, to Europe, for some professional business, find while there the Communist forces of Castro arrived to power, so I remained there until January 15 when I came here, to the United States…
Document 2: Excerpt of Diaz-Balart Testimony Before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, of the Committee on the Judiciary , May 3, 1960. Available online at http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/us-cuba/diaz-balart.htm
Document 2 Short-Answer Questions
- Where did Mr. Diaz Balart live at the time of his testimony before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee?
- When did Mr. Diaz Balart leave Cuba?
- Why did he come to live in the United States instead of returning to his home in Cuba?
- What was Mr. Diaz Balart’s career when he was in Cuba?
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