As a result of these measures, the standard of living of the rural and urban working class increased substantially. However, as Jesus Arboleya has noted, "lowering rents and electricity and telephone rates, increasing minimum salary, and other measures benefiting the working sectors openly clashed with the interests of the privileged few." As the standard of living of the masses rose, the middle and upper classes lost much of their wealth, so much so that many well-to-do people began leaving Cuba. Virtually all of the upper class and much of the small middle class, including a majority of the nation's medical doctors, teachers, and engineers, fled the country with as much of their wealth as they could carry off.

Many emigres settled in Latin America and Spain, but a good number relocated to south Florida. Once in the United States, they complained bitterly...