Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl spent a year and a half in Mexico , after being amnestied from prison. Fidel briefly visited the United States during his tenure in exile to raise support for the Cuban revolution. Since the revolution and its subsequent imposition of a communist government, and among waves of mass emigration in the hundreds of thousands, some prominent exiled figures have included Carlos Franqui who relocated to Italy; Huber Matos, who was imprisoned by Castro's government for twenty years after resigning his governmental position in 1959 before relocating to Miami; Guillermo Cabrera Infante, a prominent Cuban writer, who fled to the United Kingdom; and many more. Reinaldo Cruz was one of the five first Cuban rafters. Including Ángel Padrón, Mario Benítez, Marcelino González, Nelson López Estévez. These were the first true Cuban rafters to flee the communist country on a home-made raft consisting of 8 truck inner tubes and bamboo poles tied together. They left Cuba on July 31, 1964 to then be rescued by a fishing boat named the KAL on August 6, 1964. They were surrounded by sharks said Ken Lowry of the KAL. When Ken spotted the men floating just 25 miles  East of West Palm Beach he notified the US Coast Guard. He was directed by the USCG to board them and bring them directly to Pier 66 in Fort Lauderdale. Once on board Ken asked "where are you going" one of the men Reinaldo Cruz said "Miami".

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