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A weekly programme which focuses on people and the situations which shape their lives
Reporters: Jim Douglas Henry, Jeremy James, John Percival, Desmond Wilcox, Harold Williamson
This week: From Castro to Coke
It is ten years since Cuba became Castro's Cuba and this week, as the government-inspired ceremonies celebrate the tenth anniversary of the 'Glorious Revolution,' refugee planes from Havana will land in Miami twice a day - as they do every day. Miami - American playground: a frightening combination of golden sand and blaring architecture - and, for a quarter of a million Cubans to date, gateway to a new life.
The United States is a country founded on a concept of taking in those who have fled from other places. The latest ingredient to be added to this multi-racial melting-pot is the confused, penniless, Spanish-speaking Cuban refugees.
Within a year or two the young, adapting as they always do, reach for all-American clothes, ideas, and behaviour. But for their parents the adaptation sometimes seems impossible. The American government struggles to cope with the problem. Some American people have found a new focus for race hatred, and still - twice a day - a refugee plane lands in Miami with families who have been stripped of everything but the clothes they wear before they were allowed to leave Cuba - for the land of coke.
Report by John Percival
(Colour)