The Mariel boatlift is the name given to a period of mass emigration from Cuba to the United States over a six-month long period between April and October 1980. The exodus came about owing to disillusionment with two decades of communist rule on the largest island of the Caribbean, a sharp economic downturn there in the late 1970s and numerous other factors. It commenced when thousands of Cubans began seeking asylum on the grounds of the Peruvian embassy in Cuba. It then morphed into an agreement between the otherwise hostile Cuban and American governments whereby those who wished to leave Cuba could do so. Over the next six months approximately 150,000 people left Cuba for the United States, primarily settling in Florida. Around one-sixth of those involved were Haitians who had previously fled from the Duvalier dictatorships in their country to Cuba. The Mariel boatlift contributed to a major shift in the demographic landscape of southern Florida to become a stronghold of Cuban Americans in the United States, though it was only one episode in the mass migration of Cubans to Florida in the decades after the Cuban Revolution.[1]
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Mariel boatlift chronology of events
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Ever since the Cuban Revolution of the late 1950s there had been a steady stream of Cuban migrants fleeing their island home and heading to the next closest foreign soil, namely Florida in the south-eastern corner of the United States. At first many of those involved in 1959 were people who had collaborated with the highly corrupt dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in Cuba in the 1950s who faced possible prosecution by the new communist regime of Fidel Castro. However, in the course of the 1960s and 1970s the nature of this emigration changed. Many were people who wished to escape the economic system in Cuba began leaving, while others were fleeing persecution in the form of repressive social and political policies.[2]
The Mariel boatlift came about as a result of this exodus of people from Cuba. By the late 1970s the Cuban government was having to expend considerable resources on trying to police its coastal region and waters to stop the flight of people from the island to Florida. At the same time, the administration of President Jimmy Carter of the United States had been seeking to improve relations between the Castro regime and the US after two decades of acrimony, sanctions and military brinksmanship since the Revolution. Some of this focused on normalizing communication between Cuban exiles living in Florida who possibly had family and relations still living in Cuba. Arrangements were, for instance, put in place whereby Cuban Americans could send money back to their relatives in Cuba, money which was often employed to fund migration of further individuals to the US.[3]
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By early 1980 this attempted normalization of relations had resulted in a growing problem as more and more Cubans sought to take advantage of the more liberal environment to leave Cuba for Florida. Some took up residence on the grounds of the Peruvian embassy in Cuba and requested aid in leaving. Finally, the Castro government, irritated by the constant drain on resources to deal with these issues, declared that those who wished to leave could leave. Hence, there began a mass exodus from Cuba. It became known as the Mariel boatlift, as the port of Mariel some forty kilometers to the west of Havana became the main point of disembarkation. Despite the use of the term ‘boatlift’, many left Cuba on planes, particularly so once an agreement was reached between the Castro government and other governments in the US, Spain, Costa Rica and other locations to take in the emigrants. However, the bulk of the transportation was on board 1,700 small boats that travelled between western Cuba and Florida.[4] The boatlift was at its most intense in May 1980, when 86,000 Cubans and Haitians left Cuba. Thereafter it declined rapidly, particularly so as there was a major public backlash against the influx of so many Cubans into Florida. A few thousand people continued to leave in the late summer and early autumn of 1980 and the exodus came to an end in September and October.[5]
Extent of migration during the Mariel boatlift
Over 7,600 Cubans left the island in the final two weeks of April 1980. This figure swelled to over 86,000 alone in May, followed by 21,000 in June. Thereafter three to four thousand left each month down to October. In total around 125,000 Cubans left the Caribbean island between April and October 1980. This was augmented by the removal of about 25,000 Haitians who had arrived to Cuba in the late 1970s as a result of the growing instability of Haiti under the Duvalier dictatorship. Thus, in total around 150,000 people left Cuba in a six-month period in the late spring, summer and autumn of 1980. The overwhelming majority of these headed to the United States and in particular to Florida, though there were other migratory destinations. Some were airlifted to Costa Rica and then sent from there to countries like Spain that had agreed to take a few thousand migrants.[6]
Demographic impact of the Mariel boatlift
The Mariel boatlift had a substantial demographic impact on Cuba and the United States, particularly the state of Florida. There are over 2.5 million Cuban Americans today, of which approximately 80% live in Florida. Of these, between 1.2 and 1.3 million were born in Cuba.[7] Admittedly the Mariel boatlift was not the only event which led to the development of this Cuban diaspora community and there have been different waves of Cuban migration to the south-eastern United States since the late 1950s. However, it was a major contributory factor in the development of this immense Cuban American community in Florida, particularly the Greater Miami metropolitan area. Hence, hundreds of thousands of Cuban Americans today will trace their heritage to the Marielitos who left Cuba between April and October 1980.[8]
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See also
Explore more about the Mariel boatlift
- Florida Newspapers, 1901-2009 records collection on MyHeritage
- Florida, Marriages records collection on MyHeritage
- Florida, Marriages, 1970-1999 records collection on MyHeritage
- Florida, Divorces, 1970-1999 records collection on MyHeritage
- Florida, Voter Registrations records collection on MyHeritage
References
- ↑ https://www.history.com/news/mariel-boatlift-castro-carter-cold-war
- ↑ https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/cuban-migration-postrevolution-exodus-ebbs-and-flows
- ↑ https://text-message.blogs.archives.gov/2021/08/03/the-causes-and-effects-of-the-mariel-boatlift/
- ↑ https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/castro-announces-mariel-boatlift
- ↑ Kate Dupes Hawk, Ron Villela, Adolfo Leyvade Varona and Kristen Cifers, Florida and the Mariel Boatlift of 1980 (Tuscaloosa, 2014).
- ↑ https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/cuban-migration-postrevolution-exodus-ebbs-and-flows
- ↑ https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/cuban-immigrants-united-states-2021
- ↑ David Card, ‘The Impact of the Mariel Boatlift on the Miami Labor Market’, in Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 43, No. 2 (January, 1990), pp. 245–257.