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

Timeline

Fleeing Fidel & Finding Florida

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   "The 1980 Mariel Boatlift brought more than 125,000 Cubans to South Florida over six months when Fidel Castro opened Cuba’s Mariel harbor to those wishing to leave"(Sun Sentinel, Florida Politicians Protect Special Status).

1959,
December

   Castro gained control of Cuba. 


❝The most important thing of all is that if they see we are weak they will attack us. If they see we are strong and united they are afraid of us."    
-Fidel Castro

"Fidel Castro waves 20 million dollar check representing funds seized from Batista and his supporters, which Cuban governemnt turned over to him to agrarian reform program, July 26, 1959, at mass meeting in Havana" (Reviewjournal, 1959).

"Fidel Castro announces general mobilization after the announcement of Cuba blockade by US President John F Kennedy, in Havana, on Oct. 29, 1962" (express, Bickerton, 1962). 

1960

   U.S. places embargo on Cuba that blocked trade.  

❝Within ten years we will produce more milk than Holland and more cheese than France. This is the greatest goal we set for ourselves By that date, we expect to exceed thirty million liters of milk, so much in fact that we will have to export."
-Fidel Castro Interview with Eddy Martin, March 2, 1964


1961,
April

   Bay of Pigs event, Cuban exiles returned to Cuba to take Castro out of power.
​​​​​​​

❝"The Bay of Pigs must certainly have cured any illusions that he had about the certainty of success. And he’d had, after all, a very few failures in his life, and if you’ve had very few failures you tend to think that you’re going to succeed."
 -Joseph W. Alsop

"On 29 December 1962 President and Mrs. Kennedy greet members of the 2506 Cuban Invasion Brigade in Miami, Florida, Orange Bowl Stadium" (JFKlibrary, Stoughton, 1962). 

"Cuban President Fidel Castro pauses during a speech in Matanzas 60 miles east of Havana Cuba Tuesday August 3, 1999" (reviewjournal, JoseGoitia, 1999).

1961

Castro's revolution was officially a Communist government. 

❝"Castro particularly wanted to make the point in the interview that he was a revolutionary and a Communist long before he actually came to power."      
-Barbara Walters

1962,
October

   Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union that resulted in a nuclear conflict.

"In Early November 1962, Low-level photography reveals 17 missile erectors at north Mariel port awaiting return to the USSR" (archives George Washington University, Brugioni, 1962). 

"On April 11, 1961, the Ortega family and Armando Rodriguez wait on a Coast Guard boat at Key West" (Floridamemory, McDonald, 1961).

1965,
September

   Castro announced that he would stop anyone from leaving Cuba.

❝
Q.“Will you allow Cubans to visit this country, to visit their families?"
- Barbara Walters

 A."Not until relations with the United States are normalized."
-Fidel Castro

1961-1974

   President John F. Kennedy approved the Cuban Refugee Assistance Program (CRA) to provide health, employment, and educational services to Cuban refugees.

"This document was intended for distribution to Cuban refugees to help them understand the assistance available through the Cuban Refugee Assistance Program (CRA)" (floridamemory, 1963).

"Between 1868 and 1898, the United States admitted approximately 55,700 Cuban immigrants, the largest group from the Caribbean region" (migrationpolicy, 2017).

Late 1970s

 700,000 refugees had fled Cuba for the United States including political asylum seekers. 

❝As trips grew more popular, the men and women brokering them and securing visas for the travelers had become influential figures in the community."
-Mirta Ojito

1978

  Dialogues, a series of dialogos between Cuban officials and members of the exile community. They created a travel policy that allowed approximately 100,000 exiles living in the United States to visit Cuba. 

"The building housing the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, Cuba, 1963" (cfr, 1963).

"The Cuban Refugee Act revised an older policy and defined refugee while allowing Cubans to enter the United States" (govinfo, 1966).

1980, 
March

   Carter signed the 1980 Refugee Act which established standardized guidelines for refugee resettlement in the United States. 

1980, 
April 20

   Fidel announced that Cubans could leave only from Mariel Harbor. 

W3.CSS
❝

And again, I hope the human rights world will never forget what happened to those mentally ill individuals that were, that were just dogged out to sea by my, it's very own government."
-Dr. Rafael Penalver  

"Family and friends of Cuban refugees arriving from Mariel wait outside of the Key West Latin Chamber of Commerce of the Lower Keys, located in the old United Services Organization (USO) building at the intersection of Southard and Whitehead streets" (Floridamemory, McDonald, 1980).

"Private vessels “Foxy Lady” and “Matilde” filled with Cuban refugees from Mariel docked at Pier “B” in Key West. After disembarking, passengers walked from the pier to the makeshift immigration processing center at the Key West Latin Chamber of Commerce" (Floridamemory, McDonald, 1980).

1980, 
April 25

   300 boats waited in Mariel Harbor, Cuba to end up in the U.S. 

❝

It was also the beginning of the Mariel boatlift, which brought more than 125,000 Cuban refugees to U.S. shores between April and September 1980."
-Alfonso Chardy

1980, 
May 6

   Carter officially declared a state of emergency in the areas of Florida most “severely affected” by the influx of Cubans and Haitians. 

❝

The participants were in the middle of a conference call of shouting as they tried to determine what to do about the crisis." 
-Robert McKight

"Refugees wait to be processed by U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) agents in a temporary housing center located at an old naval seaplane hangar at Trumbo Point in Key West" (Floridamemory, McDonald, 1980).

 "Refugee documentation Cuban/Haitian entrant documentation sample form I-94" (dpwstate, 1981).

1980, 
June 2o

   The Cuban-Haitian Entrant Program was established, whereby Haitians that arrived during the Mariel-era (ending on October 10, 1980) would receive the same temporary status as Cubans and both groups would have access to the same rights as refugees.

1980, 
October

   The Mariel Boatlift ended by mutual agreement between the United States and Cuba.

❝

President Carter was awaiting Florida’s recommendation for action by the United States."
 -Robert McKnight

"A U.S. Marine helps a child off of a Cuban refugee boat" (cra,Yovera,1980).

"Arreita holds a certificate from his U.S. citizenship ceremony on Sept. 29, 2009, a day he described as "one of the happiest in my life" (Sun Sentinel, Arrieta, 2009).

1984

   The Mariel refugees from Cuba obtained permanent legal status under a revision to the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966.

❝

Twenty-five years after these Cubans left Mariel, they may have finally reached the shore."
 -Mirta Ojito


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