Today about 800 descendants of the Korean farmers live around Havana, Matanzas and other areas of Cuba.
[1] The first ethnic Koreans to arrive in Cuba came from Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula in search of a better life.
They were sold to 22 landlords[3] and became sugarcane and hemp (henequen) cutters, toiling from sun-up till sundown in the dry and harsh tropical sun.
Land that had formerly grown sugar was now converted to growing henequen and employed the Korean farmers as cutters.
A Cuba-Korea culture center was built in 1921 that taught Korean writing and history in an attempt to remind the descendants of their heritage.