In December 1965, the U.S. government initiated the Freedom Flights, a program that brought hundreds of thousands of Cuban refugees to the United States. The program was established following the Cuban Missile Crisis and the consolidation of Fidel Castro's power, as many Cubans sought to escape the communist regime. Over the next eight years, approximately 250,000 Cubans entered the U.S. through this program, joining the earlier waves of refugees who had settled primarily in Miami. The Freedom Flights significantly shaped the Cuban-American community in Florida.

The Cuban Freedom Flights and the broader Cuban diaspora are central themes in Cuban-American literature. Writers like Reinaldo Arenas, Cristina García, and Achy Obejas have explored the experiences of displacement, exile, and the search for identity in their poetry and novels. The event has inspired a rich body of work that grapples with the complexities of leaving one's homeland and forging a new life in America.