Fidel Castro opened the Port of Mariel, in 1980, allowing disaffected Cubans to leave en masse for the
United States. Amidst growing dissent, housing and job shortages as well as a plummeting economy, left
throngs of Cubans crowding into the lushly landscaped gardens at the embassy, requesting asylum after he
removed his guards from the Peruvian Embassy in Havana. This is the first time Fidel opened the gates and is
known as the Mariel Boatlift.
The Coast Guard established patrols to aid refugees and to enforce neutrality, interdicting the
transportation of men and arms. In a five month period the Coast Guard sailed in small vessels from South
Florida to Mariel. Gathering as many Cuban refugees that took to the waters, as they could possible fit and
sail back to South Florida. Total that year, 125,266 refugees arrived in a tumultuous exodus that forever
changed Cuba and South Florida. A political disaster and the most disorderly migration in the country's
history President Jimmy Carter faced. After the President first welcomed the refugees, he soon learned,
among the good seeking to escape, were the criminals and the mental patients.
The Mariel boatlift forever changed the ethnic landscape, cementing the Cubanization of Miami,
expanding the exile community to more broadly reflect Cuba in terms of race and age, economic and social
strata, as well as political perspectives.
Here are a few pictures of the U.S. Coast Guard bringing in Cuban Refugees, during the Mariel Boatlift:
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REFERENCES:
"Military." Mariel Boatlift. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2013. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/mariel-boatlift.htm
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