"Peruvian Embassy in Havana, April 1980" (Latin American Studies, Mariel Exodus,1980).
"In April 1980 a rumor spread in Havana that the Peru Embassy was granting safe passage to Peru to people that came to that Embassy. A crowd of a thousand or so Cubans entered the Peruvian Embassy property in Havana before Castro’s police acted to stop entry. Of course, many
Cubans were desperate to get away from the Castro police state" (A Flood of Cuban Migrants - The Mariel Boatlift, April-October 1980, Association for Dimplomatic Studies & Training, 22 April 2015).
"Standing room only among the 10,800 refugees in the embassy" (Latin American Studies, Mariel Exodus,1980).
❝There were people with drums doing a conga line and chanting, 'Going to the embassy, going to the embassy'; it was a collective craziness.Their action precipitated one of the largest exoduses in modern history."
-Historian Enrique Lopez recalled in a telephone interview in Havana (Juan O. Tamayo, Castro's blunder led to crisis, The Miami Herald, 23 April 2000)
"Peru had not decided to take a significant number of Cubans, but these Cubans stayed in the Peruvian Embassy property, most living in the grounds with no cover and inadequate sanitary conditions for some time...Eventually there were more than 10,000 Cubans crowded in the Embassy grounds and buildings" (A Flood of Cuban Migrants - The Mariel Boatlift, April-October 1980, Association for Dimplomatic Studies & Training, 22 April 2015).
❝Fidel expected 100, maybe a couple of hundred, disaffected people to go into the embassy. Instead, 10,000 went in."
-Exile who aided Raul Castro, brother of President Castro
"Peruvian Embassy in Havana, April 1980" (Latin American Studies, Mariel Exodus, 1980).
"Foreign press speak with refugees in the embassy" (Latin American Studies, Mariel Exodus, 1980).
❝There are people in the branches of the trees, on top of the destroyed iron grating and even on the roof of the embassy. We have been informed that there's virtually not enough room for a single other person in our embassy."
-A Peruvian spokesman in Lima told news agencies (Lexie Verdon, Thousands in Cuba Ask Peruvian Refuge, The Washington Post, 1980.)
"It was an embarrassing high-profile situation for Castro, who, of course, blamed the U.S. for starting the rumor and
claimed few Cubans wanted to leave Cuba" (A Flood of Cuban Migrants-The Mariel Boatlift, April-October 1980, Association for Diplomatic Studies & Training, 22 April 2015).
"We don't want water or food, we want to leave" (Latin American Studies, Mariel Exodus, 1980).
Peru alone cannot in the short range mobilize that amount of people. That is why we are seeking international solidarity, but will do everything possible to place them abroad."
-Peruvian Foreign Minister Arturo Garcia
...I have never fought to occupy a position in history. I have always fought for concrete facts, for justice."
-Fidel Castro
"Peru yesterday sought aid from other diplomatic missions in Havana, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Red Cross, according to a statement released in Lima" (Verdon, Thousands in Cuba Ask Peruvian Refuge).
"The announcement, however, specifically denied the exit privileges for those who had entered the foreign embassies by force, apparently referring to about 40 dissidents who have sought refuge in the last year by crashing through embassy gates.
Cuba said...there would be no reprisals against those seeking emigration at the embassy and those on the grounds would be allowed to leave the country if they secured permission from Peru" (Verdon, Thousands in Cuba Ask Peruvian Refuge, The Washington Post).
"Silvano Soto, his wife Lucia, and their six children sought asylum in the Peruvian Embassy" (Latin American Studies, Mariel Exodus, 1980).
"...An official at the Canadian embassy in Havana explained that before the year 2000, "deserters" were referred to as gusanos (worms) and, as a result, they were discriminated against "in all aspects" (Canada 6 Oct. 2015). El Nuevo Herald, a newspaper based in Miami, similarly reports that the Cuban government referred to those who left the country in the 1960s as gusanos (15 Aug. 2010)."
(Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. Cuba: Treatment of "deserters," and whether the law regarding dereliction of duty is applied, including towards university professors (2014-2015). The UN Refugee Agency, 8 October 2015)
"The marches and rallies against Carter and the United States tried to intimidate the thousands of Cubans who had entered the Peruvian Embassy demanding asylum in 1980. They were the beginning of a series of insults and violent attacks and other forms of cruelty at the homes and work places of those who wanted to leave on what became known as the Mariel Boatlift" (Morejon, A Glimpse of My Generation's Childhood in Cuba, 2019).
"...Not all those who sought asylum in the Peruvian Embassy were allowed to leave the country. Three Cubans have remained for more than eight years in the Peruvian Embassy in Havana, one of which was able to leave and arrived in Canada with his relatives in 1989."
(Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Information on 1980 Exodus from Cuba, The UN Refugee Agency, 1 April 1990)
"Just because it is legal does not make it right."- Christine Dahl Federal Public Defender