Mariel boatlift

Cuban refugees arriving in crowded boats during the Mariel Boatlift crisis.

The Mariel Boatlift was a mass movement of Cubans who departed from Cuba's Mariel Harbor for the United States between April 15 and October 31, 1980.

The boatlift was precipitated by a sharp downturn in the Cuban economy, leading to simmering internal tensions on the island and a bid by up to 10,000 Cubans to gain asylum in the Peruvian embassy.

The Cuban government subsequently announced that anyone who wanted to leave could do so, and an impromptu exodus organized by Cuban-Americans with the agreement of Cuban President Fidel Castro was underway. The boatlift began to have negative political implications for U.S. President Jimmy Carter when it was discovered that a number of the exiles had been released from Cuban jails and mental health facilities. The exodus was ended by mutual agreement between the two governments in October 1980. By that time up to 125,000 Cubans had made the journey to Florida.

Background

Map of northwest Cuba, showing the location of Mariel, and south Florida

The Mariel Boatlift story has its roots in 1977 and improving relations between Cuba and the United States. The Carter administration established an Interest Section in Havana while the Cuban government reciprocated by establishing an Interest Section in Washington, D.C.. Cuba agreed to the release of several dozen political prisoners, and allowed Cuban Americans to return to the island to visit relatives – a privilege that had been denied to Cuban citizens living abroad.

Initially the Carter administration had an open arms policy in regard to Cuban immigrants and Cubans were immediately granted refugee status and all the rights that came with refugee status. Public view was favorable for the Cuban political refugees; however during the Mariel Boatlift that had changed and started being perceived as undesirable illegal immigrants, the Carter administration was forced to act. This, paired with pressure to allow Haitian rafters to be granted refugee status, rushed the US government into action and would serve to heighten tensions between the two nations.

Exodus

Cuban arrivals during the
Mariel episode by month

Month	Arrivals (#)	Arrivals (%)
April (from April 21)	7665	6
May	86488	69
June	20800	17
July	2629	2
August	3939	3
September	3258	3
Total	124779	100

The episode started when on April 1, 1980 one Hector Sanyustiz acted on a plan he had secretly been organizing for months. He boarded a bus, and along with four others (including the driver), stopped several blocks from Embassy Row in downtown Havana. The driver, who was a friend of Sanyustiz, announced that the bus had broken down and consequently emptied the vehicle, leaving inside the four others who were privy to the plan. Sanyustiz took control of the bus and drove it through a fence of the Peruvian embassy. Some of the Cuban guards who were positioned to guard the street opened fire on the bus, one being fatally wounded in the crossfire. The five had taken desperate measures to ask for political asylum, and the Peruvian diplomat in charge of the embassy, Ernesto Pinto-Bazurco, granted it.

The Cuban government made an immediate appeal to the Peruvian government to return the five individuals, alleging that they would have to be tried in the death of one of the guards. When the Peruvian government refused, Castro threatened to remove the guards at the entrance of the Peruvian embassy, which he did on Good Friday, April 4, 1980. The news spread by word of mouth and by Easter Sunday, there were over 10,000 people crammed into the tiny Peruvian embassy grounds. People occupied every open space in the grounds, eventually climbing trees and other structures. The dangerous situation was allayed somewhat by other embassies, including those of Spain and Costa Rica, which agreed to take a small number of people. Castro then proclaimed that the port of Mariel would be opened to anyone wishing to leave, as long as they had someone to pick them up. While news of the events was not broadcast in Cuba, Cuban exiles in the United States rushed to Key West and to docks in Miami to hire boats and rescue their relatives.

Effect of the Mariel Boatlift on the Miami labor market

The Mariel Boatlift's effect on the economy and labor market of Miami was not as detrimental as expected or believed to have been. However, some of these positives could stem from Miami becoming the chief distribution city for powder cocaine. Considering the fact that fifty percent of Mariel immigrants decided to permanently reside in Miami, and this resulted in a seven percent increase in workers in the Miami labor market and a twenty percent increase in Cuban working population. Aside from the unemployment rate rising from 5.0 in April 1980 to 7.1 in July, which should be expected with such a large increase of workers, the actual damage to the economy was marginal and followed trends across America at the time. When observing data from 1979 to 1985 on the Miami labor market and comparing it to similar data from several other major cities across the United States focusing on wages it is made obvious that the effects of the boatlift were marginal.

The wages for Caucasians remained steady in both Miami and comparative cities. Likewise the wage rates for African American's were relatively steady from 1979 to 1985 when in comparative cities it dropped. Aside from a dip in 1983, wage rates for Non-Cuban Hispanics were stable, when in comparative cities it fell approximately six percent. There is no evidence of a negative effect on wage rates for Hispanics in Miami. Wages for Cubans demonstrated a steady decline especially compared to other groups in Miami at the time however this is to be expected when the market increases twenty percent.

The end

The Cuban government eventually closed the harbor to all would-be Cuban emigrants. Due to ocean currents and the island nation's proximity to the United States, the refugees' vessels headed to Florida, with the majority landing in Miami. The immigrants were detained upon arrival, and crowded conditions in South Florida immigration processing centers forced U.S. federal agencies to swiftly move many of the "Marielitas" to other centers in Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania, Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, Camp Santiago, Puerto Rico, and Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. Riots in the Fort Chaffee center were a factor in the re-election defeat of then-Governor Bill Clinton. President Jimmy Carter was also heavily criticized for his handling of the situation.

During this period, approximately 125,000 Cubans arrived at the United States' shores in about 1,700 boats, creating large waves of people that overwhelmed the U.S. Coast Guard. Cuban guards packed boat after boat, without considering who the boats were carrying, and without considering weather or lifejacket safety, making some of the overcrowded boats barely seaworthy; 27 migrants died, including 14 on an overloaded boat that capsized on May 17, 1980.

Upon arrival, many Cubans were placed in refugee camps, while others were held in federal prisons to undergo deportation hearings. Some were later discovered to be violent felons released from Cuban prisons, but only 2% or 2,746 Cubans were considered serious or violent criminals under U.S. law and therefore were denied asylum.

Popular culture

The Mariel boatlift is depicted in the films Scarface (1983), The Perez Family (1995), and Before Night Falls (2000).

Some of the more famous Mariel boatlift refugees ("Marielitas") include:

• Pulitzer Prize winner and writer Mirta Ojito
• Writer and poet Reinaldo Arenas
• Murderer of Mia Zapata, Jesus Mezquia.
• Real World star Pedro Zamora.
• Telemundo's Al Rojo Vivo anchor Jorge D. Bernal.
• Hollywood actor and soap opera star Rene Lavan
• Julio González, arsonist responsible for the infamous Happy Land fire that killed 87 people.

See also

• Cuba-United States relations

References

• Larzelere, Alex. The 1980 Cuban Boatlift. (Washington DC: National Defense University Press): 1988.
• Mariel Boatlift on globalsecurity.org.

External links

• Memories of Mariel: 20 Years Later.
• Six-year study of Mariel refugees
• Mas Alla del Mar Documentary about Mariel boatlift (English title "Beyond the Sea")