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Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management Crisis and Emergency Management Newsletter Website |
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December
2007
Volume 13
- Number 3 |
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Mariel Boatlift of 1980 By: Andres Lopez Esquerra Between April 15 and October 31 of 1980, thousands
of Cubans left their island to go to the United States and created on of
the biggest crisis of its time in the city of Miami. Approximately
125,000 Cubans arrived in about 1,700 boats and the families where displace
to many places including Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania, Fort McCoy, Wisconsin,
Camp Santiago, Puerto Rico, and Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. But many do
not know how the crisis got started.
On April 1, 1980, in Cuba a man by the name of Hector Sanyustiz and four of his friends took charge of a public bus and drove it into the Peruvian embassy leaving a Cuban guard dead in the crossfire created between both parties. The then Peruvian diplomat, Ernesto Pinto-Bazurco, was able to grant what the friends wanted, political asylum, and here is how the events to the boatlift got started. After some fail negotiation between the Cuban and Peruvian governments to return the five friends to be tried because of the death of the guard, Castro threaten and order of April 4, 1980, Good Friday, the rest of the guards assign to the protection of the embassy to be removed. The news spread through the entire island that the embassy was open for political asylum and by Sunday over 10,000 people cover the structure. Other embassies, such as Costa Rica and Spain, follow by letting a small group of Cubans inside the embassy as well. Castro’s answer to the situation was to open the port of Mariel to anyone that wanted to leave the island could do so if someone picked them up, the news now spread the entire Cuban exile community in the United Sates. Hundreds rushed to the docks in Miami and Key West to hire boats and rescue their relatives. Even though the political price for the miss handling of the events where paid by the President Jimmy Carter and people like the then governor Brill Clinton in Arkansas no one could actually predicted the work needed to process so many people since no one actually knew the amount of people that wanted out. Another problem that came up was that Castro used the opportunity to send to the United States violent criminals, inspiration for the famous movie Scarface. But the truth is that only 2% of them were actual violent criminals and were deported back to the island. The majority where hard working families divided by time and place that simply wanted a better life for there future, one of these families is mine. Our history took us to the shores of Puerto Rico because of family that was able to leave earlier, but the real problem was the division of many families as well. In my case, we are divided between Spain, New York, Miami and Puerto Rico. And entering the presidential election cycle, where many talk about security and how illegal immigrants must be taken away from the nation, nobody actually see that they are the most hard working people of America. They go through hell to give to their future a better life and are willing to work in places that most Americans do not. They are families like the founding fathers of this country, looking for a way to be free. |