Cuban post-revolution exodus

The Cuban post-revolution exodus is the decades long continuous emigration of Cubans from the island of Cuba that has occurred since the conclusion of the Cuban Revolution in 1959. Throughout the exodus, millions of Cubans from diverse social positions emigrated within various emigration waves, due to political repression and disillusionment with life in Cuba. Between 1959 and 2023, some 2.9 million Cubans emigrated from Cuba.

The first wave of emigration occurred directly after the revolution, followed by the Freedom Flights from 1965 to 1973. This was followed by the 1980 Mariel boatlift and after 1994 the flight of balseros emigrating by raft. During the Cuban exile many refugees were granted special legal status by the US government, but these privileges began to be slowly removed in the 2010s by then-president Barack Obama.

The emigrants in the exodus known as "Cuban exiles" have come from various backgrounds in Cuban society, often reflected in the wave of emigration they participated in. Exiles have constructed Cuban communities that continue to preserve Cuban culture abroad, as well as garnering political influence outside Cuba. As of 2022, the majority of the 1,312,510 Cuban exiles living in the United States live in Florida (984,658), mainly in Miami-Dade County (643,954), where more than a third of the population is Cuban or of Cuban descent. Other exiles have relocated to form substantial Cuban communities in Texas (72,993), New Jersey (44,294), Nevada (30,808), California (25,172), New York (state) (18,197), and Kentucky (14,652).