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Fleeing Fidel & Finding Florida:
The Mariel Boatlift an Immigration Breakthrough

Impact

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"Painting of Cuban American men playing dominoes in Little Havana: Miami, Florida" (The Cuban Experience in Florida, Florida Memory).

Overview

All Marielitos were stereotyped as criminals and struggled with integration into the U.S. Nevertheless, many gained success and stimulated the Floridian economy, through their hard working efforts. Cuban culture spread through places like "Little Havana," and brought Cuban traditions to everyday life in Miami.

❝As I recall, the number of people who came to the U.S. in this Mariel boat lift, as it was called, totaled well over 100,000, and probably quite a few just melted into the Cuban community and were not counted."

 -John A. Bushnell, Deputy Secretary of State

Social Impact

"For many Cuban exiles who had come earlier in more gradual waves, it was a shock to coexist with a generation raised under communism" (Fabiola Santiago, History of the Cuban revolution marked by tens of thousands fleeing the island for the U.S. The Miami Herald, 26 Novemeber 2016).

(Latin American Studies, Mariel Exodus, 1980).

"...strong feelings of American nativism, anti-Cuban sentiment, and anti-Latino prejudice began to grow among U.S. citizens. Although the majority of the “Marielitos” were peaceful, law-abiding citizens, the U.S. held the negative opinion that the Cuban immigrants were causing crime, unemployment, and economic declines. In a public opinion poll held in May of 1980, 57% of adult respondents felt the “Marielitos” shouldn’t be living in the U.S., 75% thought President Jimmy Carter’s move was wrong...and 62% felt that Fidel Castro made the U.S. look foolish" (Peter H. Smeallie. The Mariel Boatlift. Po's UMW Blogs, 6 December 2009).

(Latin American Studies, Mariel Exodus, 1980).

❝No one wanted the criminals, homosexuals, and insane, and everyone insisted we make Castro take them back. I invited ideas on how we could make Castro do this. No one suggested either use of force or relaxing the restrictions on trade. As the invasion was basically over, the Committee seemed to shift to safe ground, and various members of the Black Caucus attacked us for not giving Haitian boat people the same treatment as the Cubans."

-John A. Bushnell, Deputy Secretary of State 

"Scene from Scarface" (adst).

Crime in the U.S.

The number of criminals among the Marielitos was unknown. "Officials of the Carter and Reagan Administrations have estimated the number at 2,500. But the estimate that appears most frequently in local police records and accounts by the refugees themselves is 40,000. Refugees have testified that Cuban officials sent thousands of convicted criminals on the boatlift" (Cuban Refugee Crime Troubles Police Across U.S. The New York Times, 31 March 1985).

❝ Nev., 550 of that city's 2,000 refugees are 'career criminals.' 102 of the refugees had been convicted on felony charges and an undetermined number of others had been convicted of misdemeanors."
-Tom Keller, a member of the Marielito Task Force of the Police Department in Las Vegas

(CUBAN REFUGEE CRIME TROUBLES POLICE ACROSS U. S., The New York Times Archives, 31 March 1985)

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Riot

"In Ft. Chaffee, after a group of entrants grew frustrated with their uncertain status in the resettlement camp, a riot broke out in June 1980. Riots also occurred at the Eglin facility and at a federal penitentiary in Atlanta. These incidences bolstered existing rumors that Castro had unleashed Cuba’s criminal and mentally ill populations on the United States. Popular films such as Scarface (1983) helped perpetuate this stereotype. However, academic studies of Marielitos proved these rumors to be exaggerated. In fact, only 4 percent of Marielitos had criminal records, and of these, many had been imprisoned for political reasons" (Kathryn, The Mariel Boatlift of 1980, The Florida Memory blog, 5 October 2017).

"Several contingents of Marielitos were transferred to Fort Chaffe in Arkansas. In this image we can see a riot that developed due to lack of proper accomodations and the growing frustrations faced by the refugees" (Fernando Burga, History of the Mariel Boatlift, University of Minnesota).

"INS would then detain them, pending their being sent back to Cuba or elsewhere. Castro would not take them, and no one else wanted them. Over the years, Castro did agree to take some back. But a significant number of these people are still in jail here at considerable expense to the taxpayer over a long period of time.

Also among the Mariel boat people were quite a few Cuban intelligence agents; only a few have been caught, although many have probably returned to Cuba. However, the overwhelming majority of the Mariel immigrants were successfully absorbed, as had the much larger number of earlier immigrants" (adst).

❝There's not much we can do. We detained the ones who other refugees pointed out as having been in jail. Otherwise, there wasn't much we could've done. We were dealing with a government that refused to cooperate, with an influx of people who brought no records and whose names we could not even verify.''
-Duke Austin, a spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service Agency

"Mr. Rafael Penalver with the knives used by Cubans who took officers captive"(Penalver, Video Interview).

Economic Impact

"Wage rates for non-Cuban hispanics in Miami were relatively stable between 1979 and 1985, with a small dip in 1983. Hispanic wage rates in the comparison cities fell about 6 percentage points over this period" (Card, Impact of the Mariel Boatlift On The Miami Labor Market, 1989).

"There is no strong evidence of an adverse effect of the Mariel influx on the unemployment rates of either whites or Blacks" (Card, Impact of the Mariel Boatlift On Labor Market, 1989).

"Employed Workers in the Civilian Labor Force (ages 16 and older) by Occupation and Origin, 2016" (Jeanne Batalova and Jie Zong, Cuban Immigrants in the United States, 9 November 2017).

"First, there was essentially no effect of the Mariel immigration on the wages or employment outcomes of non-Cuban workers in the Miami labor market. Second, and perhaps even more surprising, there was no strong effect of the Mariel immigration on the wages of other Cubans."

"Again, there is no evidence of a negative effect in Miami, either in the immediate post-Mariel period or over the longer run"

(Jeanne Batalova and Jie Zong, Cuban Immigrants in the United States, 9 November 2017).

Cultural Impact

"The Mariel boatlift forever changed the ethnic landscape, cementing the Cubanization of Miami and expanding the exile community to more broadly reflect Cuba in terms of race and age, economic and social strata, as well as political perspectives" (Fabiola Santiago, History of the Cuban revolution marked by tens of thousands fleeing the island for the U.S. The Miami Herald, 26 Novemeber 2016).

"The massive influx of Cubans in 1980 forever changed Miami’s Cuban community and, in turn, Florida’s, by creating an ethnic immigrant enclave much more representative of the social, economic and racial demographics in Cuba" (Kathryn, The Mariel Boatlift of 1980, The Florida Memory blog, 5 October 2017).

"Cuban American men playing dominoes in Little Havana - Miami, Florida" (Cuban Culture, Florida Memory).

"Cuban exiles in Miami celebrate Castro’s death, shocking Havana" (Cuban exiles in Miami, New York Post, 2016).

Exploring Little Havana's Calle Ocho 

"A sign along the thoroughfare known as Calle Ocho" (officially Southwest Eighth Street) in Little Havana" (Hunter McRae, Exploring Little Havana’s Calle Ocho, The New York Times, 7 April 2016).

"El Pub offers country-style Cuban favorites such as ropa vieja (stewed beef with vegetables) and bistec empanizado (breaded steak) and the Cubano sandwich" (Hunter McRae, Exploring Little Havana’s Calle Ocho, The New York Times, 7 April 2016).

"It's an economically diverse community and a logical first step for immigrants coming to Miami" (Steven Brooks Studios/National Trust for Historic Preservation, Little Havana: The heart of Cuban community in exile, CNN, 27 January 2017).

"Los 3 de la Habana, a Cuban band, performs at Hoy Como Ayer" (Hunter McRae, Exploring Little Havana’s Calle Ocho, The New York Times, 7 April 2016).

"The Miami neighborhood of Little Havana has been declared a "national treasure" by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and several local partners" (Steven Brooks Studios/National Trust for Historic Preservation, Little Havana: The heart of Cuban community in exile, CNN, 27 January 2017).

“…refugees continue to settle here and open Cuban businesses that cater to the community. It now has thousands of small businesses, including hundreds of women and minority-owned ones" (Steven Brooks Studios/National Trust for Historic Preservation, Little Havana: The heart of Cuban community in exile, CNN, 27 January 2017).

"You can find classic Cuban sandwiches, black beans and white rice at La Esquina De La Fama, also on Calle Ocho, a few blocks from the cigar shop" (Steven Brooks Studios/National Trust for Historic Preservation, Little Havana: The heart of Cuban community in exile, CNN, 27 January 2017).

"Some of the newest businesses - such as Art District Cigars, which opened on the iconic Calle Ocho (Eighth Street) in 2007 -- are a little more upscale than their predecessors. But they still cater to the broader Latin American immigrant community now living in Little Havana" (Steven Brooks Studios/National Trust for Historic Preservation, Little Havana: The heart of Cuban community in exile, CNN, 27 January 2017).

Meet the Marielitas


"Just because it is legal does not make it right."- Christine Dahl Federal Public Defender

Penalver's Perspective