Jess Cruz (she/her) is a fourth year PhD candidate in the History Department. She broadly researches late-20th and 21st-century Latin American and Caribbean History. My dissertation focuses on how Miami, Florida has acted/and continues to act as a center for the 'new' Latin American Right, beginning in 1981 and continuing up until 2010. She argues that the political, economic, and cultural dynamism of the Larin American Right can, to a certain extent, be best understood through an in-depth examination of their dependence on Miami, Florida, as an incubator, refuge, financial haven and mouthpiece. Jess was born and raised in Hialeah, Florida, and is a first-generation, low-income student (FGLI). She graduated with a BA in both History and Spanish & Latin American Cultures from Barnard College in 2020.