Mariel boatlift

{{Further|El Diálogo}}

In the late 1970s, U.S. President Jimmy Carter sought to improve relations with Cuba. He lifted all restrictions on travel to Cuba, and in September 1977, both countries established an Interests Section in each other's capital. However, relations were still strained because Cuba supported the Soviet Union's military interventions in Africa and the Middle East with their own.{{cite news |last1=Gwertzman |first1=Bernard |title=Carter Sharply Attacks Cuba, Saying Use of Troops Hurts Peace Moves |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1978/05/14/112781046.pdf |access-date=7 April 2016 |work=The New York Times |date=14 May 1978}} The two countries struggled to reach agreement on a relaxation of the US embargo on trade to permit the export of a select list of medicines to Cuba without provoking Carter's political opponents in the US Congress.{{cite news |title=Good Medicine for Cuba |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1978/03/08/110795604.pdf |access-date=7 April 2016 |work=The New York Times| date=8 March 1978}}

Ten members of Congress visited Cuba in December 1978, and the Cuban government later released Frank C. Emmick, the US manager of a business in Cuba who had been prevented from leaving in 1963, accused of being a CIA agent, and sentenced to 50 years in prison.{{cite news| title=Notes on People| url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1978/01/05/110749120.pdf | first=Frank J.|last=Prial |access-date=22 March 2016|work=The New York Times|date=5 January 1978}} A group of 55 people whose parents brought them from Cuba returned for three weeks in December 1978 in a rare instance of Cuba allowing the return of Cuban-born émigrés.{{cite news| title=Cuban Exiles Visiting Home Find Identity | url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1978/02/14/110928525.pdf | first=Ronald | last=Smothers |access-date=22 March 2016|work=The New York Times|date=14 February 1978}} In December 1978, both countries agreed upon their maritime border, and the next month, they were working on an agreement to improve their communications in the Straits of Florida. The US responded to Cuban relaxation of restrictions on emigration by allowing Cuban-Americans to send up to $500 to an emigrating relative (equal to $2,400 in 2023).{{cite news |title=U.S. and Cuba Prepare to Draft a Maritime Agreement |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1978/01/15/110765722.pdf |first=Frank J. |last=Prial |access-date=22 March 2016|work=The New York Times|date=15 January 1978}}

In November 1978, Castro's government met in Havana with a group of Cubans living in exile, agreed to grant an amnesty to 3,600 political prisoners, and announced that they would be freed in the course of the next year and allowed to leave Cuba.{{cite news |title=Castro Would Free 3,000 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1978/11/23/110971943.pdf |access-date= 11 April 2016 |work=The New York Times |date=23 November 1978}}{{cite news |title=Man, Jailed in Plot on Castro, Is Among 400 to Be Freed |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1979/08/28/111098269.pdf |access-date=11 April 2016| work=The New York Times |date=28 August 1979}}

Caribbean Holidays began offering one-week trips to Cuba in January 1978 in co-operation with Cubatur, the official Cuban travel agency.{{cite news |title=Hotels Fight 'Relative' Competition |first=Robert J. |last=Dunphy |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1978/01/22/110777041.pdf |access-date=22 March 2016 |work=The New York Times |date=22 January 1978}} By May 1979, tours were being organized for Americans to participate in the Cuban Festival of Arts (Carifesta) in July, with flights departing from Tampa, Mexico City, and Montreal.{{cite news |title=Cubans Holding Festival |first=Suzanne |last=Donner |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1979/05/20/111185118.pdf |access-date=22 March 2016 |work=The New York Times|date=20 May 1979}}

Before 1980, many Haitian immigrants arrived on American shores by boat. They were not granted legal protection because they were considered economic migrants, rather than political refugees, despite claims made by many Haitians that they were being persecuted by the Duvalier regime. U.S. Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford denied claims of asylum in the United States for Haitian migrants by boat. A backlash by the Congressional Black Caucus ensued, which claimed that the U.S. government was discriminating against Haitian immigrants.{{cite book |title=Presidential Decision Making Adrift: The Carter Administration and the Mariel Boatlift |first=David W. |last=Engstrom |publisher=Rowman and Littlefield Publishers |pages=144–146 | year=1997 |orig-year=1984 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JLhWkTUg5r0C |isbn=978-0-8476-8414-4 |access-date=13 July 2019 |archive-date=2 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202091421/https://books.google.com/books?id=JLhWkTUg5r0C |url-status=live }}

{{Main|1980 diplomatic protection incident at the Peruvian Embassy, Havana}}

Several attempts by Cubans to seek asylum at the embassies of South American countries set the stage for the events of the spring of 1980. On 21 March 1978, two young Cuban writers who had been punished for dissent and denied permission to emigrate, Reynaldo Colas Pineda and Esteban Luis Cárdenas Junquera, unsuccessfully sought asylum in the Argentine embassy in Havana and were sentenced to two years in prison.{{cite news|title=Dissent in Cuban |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1979/11/11/111748930.pdf |access-date=22 March 2016|work=New York Times|date=14 May 1979 |first=Carlos |last=Ripoll}} On May 13, 1979, 12 Cubans sought to take asylum in the Venezuelan embassy in Havana by crashing their bus through a fence to gain entry to the grounds and the building.{{cite news|title=Cubans Seek Asylum in Caracas|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1979/05/14/111024781.pdf |access-date=22 March 2016|work=New York Times|date=11 November 1979}} In January 1980, groups of asylum seekers took refuge in the Peruvian and Venezuelan embassies, and Venezuela called its ambassador home for consultations to protest that they had been fired on by the Cuban police.{{cite news|title=Venezuela Recalls Envoy to Protest Cuba Incident|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1980/01/21/111136184.pdf |access-date=22 March 2016|work=New York Times|date=21 January 1980}} In March, Peru recalled its ambassador, who had denied entry to a dozen Cubans who were seeking asylum in his embassy.

The embassy invasions then became a confrontation between the Cuban government and the Havana embassies. A group of Cubans attempted to enter the Peruvian embassy in the last week of March, and on April 1, a group of six driving a city bus was successful in doing so, and a Cuban guard was killed by a ricocheting bullet.{{cite news|title=Havana Removes Guard from Peruvian Embassy|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1980/04/05/111147665.pdf |access-date=22 March 2016|work=New York Times|date=5 April 1980}} The Peruvians announced that they would not hand those who were seeking asylum over to Cuban police.{{cite news|first=Jo |last=Thomas |title=2,000 Who Want to Leave Cuba Crowd Peru's Embassy in Havana |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1980/04/06/111226839.pdf |access-date=22 March 2016|work=New York Times |date=6 April 1980}} The embassy grounds contained two 2-story buildings and gardens covering an area the size of a US football field, or 6,400 square yards{{cite news|last1=Thomas|first1=Jo|title=Havana Says It Seeks to Ease Plight of 10,000 at the Peruvian Embassy|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1980/04/08/111148616.pdf|access-date=31 March 2016|work=New York Times|date=8 April 1980}} The Cuban government announced on 4 April that it was withdrawing its security forces, who were normally officers from the Interior Ministry armed with automatic weapons, from that embassy: "We cannot protect embassies that do not cooperate in their own protection." Following that announcement, about 50 Cubans entered the embassy grounds. By nightfall on April 5, that number had grown to 2,000, including many children and a few former political prisoners.

Cuban officials announced through loudspeakers that anyone who had not entered the embassy grounds by force was free to emigrate if another country granted them entry. Peruvian President Francisco Morales had announced a willingness to accept asylum seekers. Diplomats from several countries met with the Peruvians to discuss the situation, including the crowd's requirements of food and shelter. An official of the US State Department stated on April 5 that the country would both grant asylum to bona fide political prisoners and handle other requests to immigrate by following standard procedures, which provided for the issuance of 400 immigrant visas per month to Cubans, with preference given to those with family members who were already in the United States.{{cite news| last1=Thomas|first1=Jo|title=Cuba Trucking Food and Water to Throng at Peruvian Embassy|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1980/04/09/111148989.pdf |access-date=31 March 2016|work=New York Times|date=9 April 1980}}

By April 6, the crowd had reached 10,000, and as sanitary conditions on the embassy grounds deteriorated, Cuban authorities prevented further access.{{cite news| first=Jo| last=Thomas |title=Crowd at Havana Embassy Grows; 10,000 Reported Seeking Asylum |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1980/04/07/111148044.pdf |access-date=22 March 2016|work=New York Times |date=7 April 1980}} The Cuban government called those seeking asylum "bums, antisocial elements, delinquents, and trash." By April 8, 3,700 of the asylum-seekers had accepted safe-conduct passes to return to their homes, and the government began to provide shipments of food and water. Peru tried to organize an international relief program,{{cite news| last1=de Onis|first1=Juan|title=Peru Asks Latins' Aid on Cubans|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1980/04/10/120951399.pdf |access-date=31 March 2016|work=New York Times|date=10 April 1980}} and it won commitments first from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela to help with resettlement,{{cite news| last1=de Onis|first1=Juan |title=Peru Appeals for Aid in Resettling Cubans at Embassy |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1980/04/11/111149643.pdf |access-date=31 March 2016|work=New York Times|date=11 April 1980}} and then from Spain, which agreed to accept 500.{{cite news |title=Cuba Reported Issuing Documents So Thousands Can Leave Embassy |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1980/04/12/111151049.pdf |access-date=31 March 2016|work=New York Times|date=12 April 1980}} By April 11, the Cuban government began to furnish asylum seekers with documents that guaranteed their right to emigrate, including permanent safe-conduct passes and passports. In the first two days, about 3,000 received those papers and left the grounds.{{cite news |first=Jo |last=Thomas |title=Peruvian Warns of Health Peril to Cubans at Embassy |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1980/04/13/114042504.pdf |access-date=31 March 2016|work=New York Times|date=13 April 1980}} On 14 April, US President Jimmy Carter announced the US would accept 3,500 refugees and that Costa Rica had agreed to provide a staging area for screening potential immigrants.{{cite news |first=Graham |last=Hovey |title=U.S. Agrees to Admit up to 3,500 Cubans from Peru Embassy |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1980/04/15/140233452.pdf |access-date=31 March 2016|work=New York Times|date=15 April 1980}}

{{See also|Acts of repudiation}}

The Cuban government organized acts of repudiation against those who wished to leave the island. Mobs would sometimes beat their targets, force them to walk around with accusatory signs on their necks, or trash their homes.{{cite web |url=http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/mariel/blunder.htm |title=Castro's blunder led to crisis |date=2000-04-23 |access-date=2019-07-25 |archive-date=17 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200517175759/http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/mariel/blunder.htm |url-status=live }} The emigrants were accused to be loafers, criminals, and drug addicts, and their expulsion was allegedly a kind of social cleansing. The physical assaults and verbal taunts that occurred during acts of repudiation were organized for months and created a sense of fear throughout Cuba. Many who participated in the violence did so to remain un-persecuted themselves, and some participants even left in the boatlift.{{cite book |last=Triay |first=Victor Andres |author-link= |date=2019 |title=The Mariel Boatlift A Cuban-American Journey

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x4PSEAAAQBAJ&dq=mariel+boatlift+social+cleansing&pg=PT29 |location= |publisher=University of Florida Press |page= |isbn=9781683400998}}

The Cuban government facilitated an emigration process that gave special privilege to those who were socially undesirable. People deemed homosexual would be allowed to leave the country. Those with gender non-conforming behavior were especially targeted by authorities for departure. Some of them were given the option between emigration and jail time, in order to encourage their departure from the island. Many Cubans would enter police stations and state that they engaged in homosexual behavior whether true or not, simply to be granted permission to leave the country.{{cite book |title=Oye Loca: From the Mariel Boatlift to Gay Cuban Miami |first=Susana |last=Peña |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |year=2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lu5zDwAAQBAJ |isbn=978-0-8166-6554-9 |access-date=13 July 2019 |archive-date=2 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202091355/https://books.google.com/books?id=Lu5zDwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}

File:Protestas Exodo de Mariel.jpg|Demonstrations in Cuba expressing disdain for marielitos and support for the government

File:1980march.png|March in Cuba condemning Mariel emigrants, alluding that they are Gusanos.

File:Acto de repudio.png|Act of repudiation conducted in Cuba during 1980.

The Carter administration was negotiating the legal status of Haitian refugees as the Mariel boatlift began. As Cuban refugees began to arrive in the United States, a focus was put on the treatment of Haitian refugees, and Carter declared Haitian refugees and Cuban refugees would be accepted in the same manner. The United States would label all refugees that would come in during the Mariel boatlift as "Cuban-Haitian entrants," to be approved at the discretion of the Attorney General.{{cite book |title=U.S. Immigration Policy on Haitian Migrants |first1=Ruth |last1=Wasem |publisher=Congressional Research Service |year=2010 |isbn=9781437932843 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jGFpMTeD55EC&q=mariel+boatlift+haitian&pg=PA1 |access-date=30 November 2020 |archive-date=2 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202091429/https://books.google.com/books?id=jGFpMTeD55EC&q=mariel+boatlift+haitian&pg=PA1 |url-status=live }}

At first, emigrants were permitted to leave Cuba via flights to Costa Rica, followed by eventual relocation to countries that would accept them. After news coverage of celebratory masses of Cubans emigrating by flight to Costa Rica, the Cuban government declared that emigrants had to leave by flying directly to their accepting country; 7,500 Cubans left the country by those initial flights.

Castro stated ultimately on 20 April that the port of Mariel would be opened to anyone wishing to leave Cuba if they had someone to pick them up.{{cite news |first=Juan O. |last=Tamayo |url=http://www.miamiherald.com/news/special-reports/cuban-revolution/article1930512.html |date=20 November 2008 |title=Chronology of the Cuban Revolution |access-date=7 May 2016 |work=Miami Herald |archive-date=8 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508144257/http://www.miamiherald.com/news/special-reports/cuban-revolution/article1930512.html |url-status=live }} Soon after Castro's decree, many Cuban Americans began making arrangements to pick up refugees in the harbor. On April 21, the first boat from the harbor docked in Key West and held 48 refugees. By April 25 as many as 300 boats were picking up refugees in Mariel Harbor. Cuban officials also packed refugees into Cuban fishing vessels.{{Cite web|url=https://www.floridamemory.com/blog/2017/10/05/the-mariel-boatlift-of-1980/|title=The Mariel Boatlift of 1980|website=www.floridamemory.com|access-date=2019-07-13|archive-date=10 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710153704/https://www.floridamemory.com/blog/2017/10/05/the-mariel-boatlift-of-1980/|url-status=live}} Around 1,700 boats brought thousands of Cubans from Mariel to Florida between the months of April and October in that year.{{Cite web |title=Mariel Boatlift of 1980 |url=https://immigrationhistory.org/item/mariel-boatlift/ |access-date=2022-12-01 |website=Immigration History |language=en-US |archive-date=June 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607031234/https://immigrationhistory.org/item/mariel-boatlift/ |url-status=live }}

Haitian refugees had been continuously coming to the United States before the Mariel boatlift and continued to do so with the flotilla.

After the arrival of thousands of refugees, Florida Governor Bob Graham declared a state of emergency in Monroe and Dade Counties on April 28. According to a US Coast Guard report, 15,761 refugees had arrived in Florida by early May. On May 6, Carter declared a state of emergency in the areas of Florida most "severely affected" by the exodus, and an open arms policy in which all refugees fleeing Cuba would receive temporary status. On June 20 the Cuban-Haitian Entrant Program (CHEP) was established, and Haitians would be given the same legal status as Cuban refugees in the United States during the Mariel boatlift. Around 25,000 Haitians would enter the United States during the boatlift.

In response, Carter then called for a blockade on the flotilla by the US Coast Guard. At least 1,400 boats would be seized, but many slipped by, and over 100,000 more Cuban and Haitian refugees continued to pour into Florida over the next five months. The Mariel Boatlift would end by agreement between the United States and Cuba in October 1980.

File:Two boats during Mariel Boatlift (7164184055) (cropped).jpg|An overloaded boat of Marielitos in Key West

File:USCGC Active (WMEC 618) Mariel Boatlift (7352293542).jpg|A U.S. Coast Guard vessel in Key West during the Mariel boatlift

File:Pier B during Mariel Boatlift (7164183301).jpg|Pier B of the Truman Annex during the boatlift

File:El Tony and others during Mariel Boatlift (7349394034).jpg|Ships at Pier B at the Truman Annex

File:Pier B during Mariel Boatlift (7349393900).jpg|Cuban refugees at Pier B of the Truman Annex

File:Boat with Cuban refugees during Mariel Boatlift (7164182641).jpg|Boat filled with Cuban refugees arriving at Key West

File:Mariel Boatlift refugee center (7164017325).jpg, in Key West.]]

Refugees were processed at camps set up in the greater Miami area, generally at decommissioned missile defense sites.{{citation |first=Andrew |last=Glass |title=Castro launches Mariel boatlift, April 20, 1980 |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/20/castro-launches-mariel-boatlift-april-20-1980-528819 |access-date=3 June 2022 |work=Politico |date=20 April 2018 |archive-date=June 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603161055/https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/20/castro-launches-mariel-boatlift-april-20-1980-528819 |url-status=live }} Other sites were established at the Miami Orange Bowl and at various churches throughout the area. Some sites were established to segregate the refugees until they could be provided with initial processing at places such as the Nike–Hercules sites at Key Largo and Krome Avenue. Once they were initially processed and documented, the refugees were quickly transferred to larger compounds in the metropolitan area to allow them to be reunited with relatives who already lived in the United States and to allow interaction with various social-action agencies such as Catholic Charities and the American Red Cross. Regional resettlement facilities became crucial sites in the social and cultural negotiation of the status and desirability of Mariel Cubans.{{citation |first=Melissa |last=Hampton |title="A Tent City is Not a Place for a Family": Mariel Cuban Women and Gendered Disorder at Regional Resettlement Facilities|work=Anthurium |date=14 December 2021 |volume=17 |issue=2 |doi=10.33596/anth.447 |s2cid=245185470 |doi-access=free }}

As the Haitian refugees started arriving, interpreters were found to be in short supply for Haitian Creole, and interpreters from the local Haitian community were put under contract through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} As the end of the initial crisis period wound down and after the vetting of the refugees who could be sponsored had run its course, the decision was made to transfer the "hard to sponsor" refugees, which included those with criminal records, to longer-term processing sites at Fort Chaffee in Arkansas, Fort Indiantown Gap in Pennsylvania and Fort McCoy in Wisconsin.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

{{Main|1980 Miami riots}}

During the Mariel boatlift the McDuffie riots were raging in the Liberty City and Overtown neighborhoods of Miami. It has been argued the riots were exacerbated by the diversion of social and policing resources from African-American communities to care for Mariel refugees,{{cite news |first=Robert |last=McKnight |title=The impact of the Mariel Boatlift still resonates in Florida after 38 years |url=https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article209282994.html |access-date=2 December 2019 |work=Miami Herald |date=18 April 2018 |archive-date=7 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191207171118/https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article209282994.html |url-status=live }} and the anger at the perceived privileges Cuban refugees held compared to African Americans and Haitian refugees.{{cite book |title=The Racial Politics of Division: Interethnic Struggles for Legitimacy in Multicultural Miami |first=Monika |last=Gosin |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=2019 |isbn=9781501738258 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZkyMDwAAQBAJ&q=mcduffie+riot+mariel+boatlift&pg=PA28 |access-date=30 November 2020 |archive-date=2 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202091433/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZkyMDwAAQBAJ&q=mcduffie+riot+mariel+boatlift&pg=PA28 |url-status=live }}

{{See also|Immigration detention in the United States}}

File:Transamerica jet loading Cuban refugees during the Mariel Boatlift (7164216741).jpg

{{Further|Fort Chaffee crisis}}

Crowded conditions in South Florida immigration processing centers forced U.S. federal agencies to move many of the Marielitos to other centers in Fort Indiantown Gap; Fort McCoy; Camp Santiago, Puerto Rico; and Fort Chaffee. Federal civilian police agencies such as the General Services Administration's Federal Protective Service provided officers to maintain order inside the gates of the relocation centers. Riots occurred at the Fort Chaffee center and some detainees escaped, an event that became a campaign issue in the re-election defeat of Governor Bill Clinton.

{{Further|Atlanta Prison Riots}}

Most refugees were ordinary Cubans. Many had been allowed to leave Cuba for reasons that in the United States were loyalty-neutral or protected, such as tens of thousands were Seventh-Day Adventists or Jehovah's Witnesses. Some had been declared "antisocialist" in Cuba by their CDRs. In the end, only 2.2 percent (or 2,746) of the refugees were classified as serious or violent criminals under US law and denied citizenship on that basis.{{cite web |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/mariel-boatlift.htm |title=Mariel Boatlift |publisher=GlobalSecurity.org |access-date=14 October 2011 |archive-date=6 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006093835/http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/mariel-boatlift.htm |url-status=live }}

In 1984, the Mariel refugees from Cuba received permanent legal status under a revision to the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966. Haitians were instead considered to be economic refugees, which made them unable to get the same residency status as Cubans and therefore subject to deportation. Two years later, under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, all Cuban-Haitian entrants who had immigrated in 1980 were able to apply for permanent residency.

By 1987, several hundred Marielitos were still detained because they were inadmissible under immigration law. Local police departments had also arrested around seven thousand Marielitos for felonies committed in the United States. Those arrested there served their prison sentences, only to be detained by INS as candidates for deportation.{{cite book|last1=Engstrom|first1=David|title=Presidential Decision Making Adrift: The Carter Administration and the Mariel Boatlift|year=1997|publisher=Rowman and Littlefield Publishers|pages=185–186|isbn=9780847684144|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JLhWkTUg5r0C&q=mariel+riot&pg=PA186|access-date=30 November 2020|archive-date=2 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202091356/https://books.google.com/books?id=JLhWkTUg5r0C&q=mariel+riot&pg=PA186|url-status=live}}

The United States–Cuba Migration Agreement of 1987 allowed for 3,000 former political prisoners to emigrate to the United States and allowed for the deportation of undesired Marielitos. After news of the agreement broke, many detained Marielitos in Oakdale and Atlanta prisons rioted and took hostages. The riots ended after an agreement was reached to stop deportations until all detainees were given a fair review of their deportation case. After 1987, the United States would continue to deport Marielitos who were deemed undesirable.

By June 2016, 478 remained to be deported; according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, some are elderly or sick, and the Department had no desire to send these back to Cuba. Under a 2016 agreement with the Cuban government, the U.S. will deport the final remaining migrants deemed as serious criminals.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/14/us/cuba-us-migrants.html |title='Marielitos' Face Long-Delayed Reckoning: Expulsion to Cuba |date=14 January 2017 |work=The New York Times |url-access=subscription |access-date=15 January 2017 |archive-date=19 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171219092723/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/14/us/cuba-us-migrants.html |url-status=live }}

An early response to address the aftermath of the Mariel Boatlift was the 1983 City of Miami's formation of the East Little Havana Task Force.{{cite news|title=Miami City Commission Picks East Little Havana Task Force|access-date=October 8, 2018|work=The Miami Herald|date=March 20, 1983|url=https://miamiherald.newsbank.com/doc/news/0EB35BB8F440BB6A?search_terms=Jesus+Permuy&text=Jesus_Permuy&content_added=&date_from=&date_to=&pub%5B0%5D=MIHB&page=1&pdate=1983-03-20|page=7B}}{{Dead link|date=May 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Task Force members were appointed by the Miami City Commission,{{cite news|title=E. Little Havana Task Force Meets, Elects Officers|access-date=October 8, 2018|work=The Miami Herald|date=May 19, 1983|url=https://miamiherald.newsbank.com/doc/news/0EB35C5DA3E15583?search_terms=Jesus+Permuy&text=Jesus_Permuy&content_added=&date_from=&date_to=&pub%5B0%5D=MIHB&page=1&pdate=1983-05-19|page=3}}{{Dead link|date=May 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} with urban planner and Cuban community leader Jesús Permuy named as its chair.{{cite news|title=Study Examines East Little Havana Redevelopment|access-date=October 8, 2018|work=The Miami Herald|date=September 27, 1984|url=https://miamiherald.newsbank.com/doc/news/0EB360945CF14047?search_terms=Jesus+Permuy&text=Jesus_Permuy&content_added=&date_from=&date_to=&pub%5B0%5D=MIHB&pdate=1984-09-27}}{{Dead link|date=May 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} It was tasked with studying the social and economic effects of the boatlift, particularly in Little Havana, which was an epicenter of the migration. The Task Force adjourned a year later and submitted its findings and official recommendations, called The East Little Havana Redevelopment Plan, to the Miami City Commission and Mayor's Office in 1984.

At the time, the Immigration and Naturalization Service identified 1,306 migrants as having "questionable" backgrounds. Scholars have found that many Mariel immigrants with criminal records were incarcerated for minor crimes that would not be considered crimes in the US, such as selling goods in the black market.{{Cite journal|last=Fernández|first=Gastón A.|date=2007|title=Race, Gender, and Class in the Persistence of the Mariel Stigma Twenty Years after the Exodus from Cuba|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27645686|journal=The International Migration Review|volume=41|issue=3|pages=602–622|doi=10.1111/j.1747-7379.2007.00087.x|jstor=27645686|s2cid=10726648|issn=0197-9183|access-date=25 October 2020|archive-date=28 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028215458/https://www.jstor.org/stable/27645686|url-status=live}} Estimates assert that the Cuban refugees included 2,700 hardened criminals.{{cite book|author1=Shanty, F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-L8B8ydtHZ4C&pg=PA461|title=Organized Crime: From Trafficking to Terrorism|author2=Mishra, P.P.|date=2008|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781576073377|volume=1|page=461|access-date=2015-08-13|archive-date=14 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114041426/https://books.google.com/books?id=-L8B8ydtHZ4C&pg=PA461|url-status=live}}

A 1985 Sun Sentinel magazine article claimed that out of the around 125,000 refugees that entered the United States, around 16,000 to 20,000 were estimated to be criminals. In a 1985 report around 350 to 400 Mariel Cubans were reported to inhabit Dade County jails on a typical day.{{cite news| date=26 September 1985| url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1985-09-26/news/8502100720_1_mariel-boatlift-criminals| access-date=22 March 2016| first=Katie| last=Springer| title=Five Years Later, Overriding Crime Is Mariel Legacy| archive-date=15 March 2016| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160315091525/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1985-09-26/news/8502100720_1_mariel-boatlift-criminals| url-status=dead}}

About half of the Mariel immigrants decided to live in Miami permanently, which resulted in a 7 percent increase in workers in the Miami labor market and a 20 percent increase in the Cuban working population.{{cite journal |author-link=David Card |last=Card |first=David |title=The Impact of the Mariel boatlift on the Miami Labor Market |journal=Industrial and Labor Relations Review |year=1990 |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=245–257 |doi=10.1177/001979399004300205 |jstor=2523702 |s2cid=15116852 |url=http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp016h440s46f |access-date=30 November 2020 |archive-date=2 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202091400/https://dataspace.princeton.edu/handle/88435/dsp016h440s46f |url-status=live }} Aside from the unemployment rate rising from 5.0 percent in April 1980 to 7.1 percent in July, the actual damage to the economy was marginal and followed trends across the United States at the time. When observing data from 1979 to 1985 on the Miami labor market and comparing it with similar data from several other major cities across the United States, focusing on wages, the effects of the boatlift were marginal.{{cite journal |last1=Portes |first1=Alejandro |last2=Jensen |first2=Leif |title=The Enclave and Entrants: Patterns of Ethnic Enterprise in Miami Before and After Mariel |journal=American Sociological Review |year=1989 |volume=54 |issue=6 |pages=929–949 |doi= 10.2307/2095716|jstor=2095716 }} There have been several explanations offered for the findings by David Card. According to economist Ethan Lewis, the Miami labor market had already seen an increase in "unskilled intensive manufactured goods," allowing it to offset the impact of the Cuban migrants. Miami also increased its diversity in manufacturing industries at a negligible rate compared to other US cities following the boat lift. According to data from the Annual Surveys of Manufacturers, Miami's Manufacturing industries regressed only .01 percentage points post-1980, which indicates a minimal impact from the boat lift on the labor market. Miami also experienced a limited increased in skilled laborers after the boat lift. According to data from Lewis, Miami experienced limited change in workers who were literate in computer use, factoring out to a .010 percentage change in skilled laborers than in Card's research.{{Cite journal |last=Lewis |first=Ethan |date=January 2004 |title=How Did the Miami Labor Market Absorb the Mariel Immigrants? |journal=Working Paper (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia) |doi=10.21799/frbp.wp.2004.03 |issn=2574-0997|doi-access=free }}

The wages for White Americans remained steady in both Miami and comparable cities. The wage rates for African Americans were relatively steady from 1979 to 1985 when in comparable cities it dropped. Apart from a dip in 1983, wage rates for non-Cuban Hispanics were stable, while in comparable cities it fell approximately 6 percent. There is no evidence of a negative effect on wage rates for other groups of Hispanics in Miami. Wages for Cubans demonstrated a steady decline especially compared with other groups in Miami at the time. This can be attributed exclusively to the "dilution" of the group with the new, less-experienced, and lower-earning Mariel immigrants, meaning that there is also no evidence of a negative effect on wage rates for Cubans living in Miami prior to 1980.

The Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980 provided $100 million in cash and medical and social services and authorized approximately $5 million per year to facilitate the refugees' transition to American life. The 1980 Census was also adjusted to include Mariel children to ensure that additional assistance would be available to them through the Miami-Dade County Public Schools via Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

In 2016 Harvard economist George J. Borjas revisited David Card's analysis in light of new insights into immigration effects since 1990. He used the same current population survey (CPS) data. However, he focused only on workers who were

• non-Hispanic (as the best approximation to the native-born)
• aged 25–59 (prime working age)
• male
• high-school dropouts

The last characteristic was especially important since 60 percent of Marielitos did not complete high school. And even many of the remaining 40 percent who had completed high school were looking for unskilled jobs because of their lack of linguistic and other skills. Marielitos, therefore, competed directly with high-school dropouts.

Borjas next compared the inflation-adjusted wages of Miami residents who had those characteristics with wages of the same segment of the American population in all other American metropolitan areas except Miami. His analysis shows that the Miami wages for native-born men without high-school diplomas were much lower than the wages for similar workers in other US metropolitan areas during the 1980s and then again in the late 1990s, following the two spikes of Cubans migrating to Miami.

One of his conclusions was that during the 1980s, wages in Miami were a full 20 percent lower than they were elsewhere.[https://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/gborjas/publications/journal/ILRR2017.pdf The Wage Impact of the Marielitos: A Reappraisal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821045111/https://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/gborjas/publications/journal/ILRR2017.pdf |date=21 August 2016 }}, George J. Borjas, Harvard University, July 2016{{cite news|title=Wages of Mariel|url=https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21702526-effect-boatlift-re-evaluated-wages-mariel|access-date=27 July 2016|newspaper=The Economist|date=21 July 2016|archive-date=24 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160724161149/http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21702526-effect-boatlift-re-evaluated-wages-mariel|url-status=live}} In 2017, an analysis of Borjas' study on the effects of the boatlift concluded that Borjas' findings "may simply be spurious" and that his theory of the economic impact of the boatlift "doesn't fit the evidence."{{cite web |url=https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/6/23/15855342/immigrants-wages-trump-economics-mariel-boatlift-hispanic-cuban |title=There's no evidence that immigrants hurt any American workers |date=23 June 2017 |access-date=2017-08-03 |publisher=Vox |archive-date=29 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200229132407/https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/6/23/15855342/immigrants-wages-trump-economics-mariel-boatlift-hispanic-cuban |url-status=live }} A number of other studies concluded the opposite of what Borjas' study had found.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-06-16/immigrants-don-t-steal-from-americans-paychecks|title=Immigrants Don't Steal From Americans' Paychecks|date=2017-06-16|work=Bloomberg.com|access-date=2017-08-20|archive-date=10 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010011435/https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-06-16/immigrants-don-t-steal-from-americans-paychecks|url-status=live}}

Writing for the IZA Institute of Labor Economics, the two economists Michael Clemens and Jennifer Hunt have claimed that conflicting results could be explained by the changes in the subsample composition of the CPS data. In 1980, the share of non-Hispanic blacks doubled in the subgroup of Miami male prime working-age high-school dropouts studied by Borjas. No similar increases occurred in the subgroups of populations in the control cities identified by either Card or Borjas. Since there was a large and significant difference between wages of black and nonblack high-school dropouts, the changing composition of the CSP subgroups created a spurious decline in the wages of the native population. According to Clemens and Hunt, the compositional effect accounts for the entire impact of the Mariel boatlift on the wages of native workers estimated by Borjas.{{Cite journal|last1=Clemens|first1=Michael|last2=Hunt|first2=Jennifer|date=May 2017|title=The Labor Market Effects of Refugee Waves: Reconciling Conflicting Results|url=http://ftp.iza.org/dp10806.pdf|journal=IZA Discussion Paper Series|volume=10806|access-date=6 July 2017|archive-date=11 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011072049/http://ftp.iza.org/dp10806.pdf|url-status=live}}

File:Mf1019.jpg

{{See also|English-only movement}}

Fidel Castro stated that those leaving in the Mariel boatlift were undesirable members of Cuban society. With Castro's condemnation and reports that prisoners and mental health patients were leaving in the exodus it was believed by some that Marielitos were undesirable deviants. Opponents of then U.S. President Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Party would hail the Mariel boatlift as a failure of his administration. Ronald Reagan would instead praise Marielitos in his ideological campaign against Cuba. The boatlift would also help spark policy demands for English-only government paperwork after Miami Dade County residents voted to remove Spanish as a second official language in November 1980. U.S. President Donald Trump's senior policy adviser Stephen Miller used the boatlift as evidence of the dangers of unchecked immigration.{{cite magazine|title=The White House Used This Moment as Proof the U.S. Should Cut Immigration. |url=https://time.com/4888381/immigration-act-mariel-boatlift-history/|access-date=13 July 2019|magazine=Time|date=4 August 2017|first=Julio|last=Capó Jr.|archive-date=10 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190610130358/http://time.com/4888381/immigration-act-mariel-boatlift-history/|url-status=live}}

Initially, many Americans disapproved of the boatlift. According to a June 1980 poll conducted by CBS and the New York Times, 71% of Americans disapproved of the boatlift and allowing Cuban nationals to settle in the United States.{{Cite web |last=DeSilver |first=Drew |title=U.S. public seldom has welcomed refugees into country |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/11/19/u-s-public-seldom-has-welcomed-refugees-into-country/ |access-date=2022-04-13 |website=Pew Research Center |date=November 19, 2015 |language=en-US |archive-date=April 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409043212/https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/11/19/u-s-public-seldom-has-welcomed-refugees-into-country/ |url-status=live }}

The boatlift has been the subject of a number of works of art, media, and entertainment. Examples include:

• Against Wind and Tide: A Cuban Odyssey (1981), a PBS documentary film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature{{cite web |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/300463/Against-Wind-And-Tide-A-Cuban-Odyssey/details |title=Against Wind and Tide: A Cuban Odyssey |access-date=16 November 2008 |archive-date=21 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521105357/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/300463/Against-Wind-And-Tide-A-Cuban-Odyssey/details |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=The New York Times |date=2011 |url-status=dead }}{{cite news|title=Picks and Pans Review: Against Wind and Tide: a Cuban Odyssey|url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20079374,00.html|access-date=3 November 2011|newspaper=People|date=1 June 1981|archive-date=2 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202235659/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20079374,00.html|url-status=live}}
• Scarface (1983), a dramatic film about a Marielito who becomes a drug lord.{{cite web |last=Chapman |first=Matt |url=http://www.totalfilm.com/news/al-pacino-and-the-cast-and-crew-talk-scarface |title=Al Pacino and the cast and crew talk Scarface |publisher=Total Film | date= 24 August 2011 |access-date= 4 January 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140105064626/http://www.totalfilm.com/news/al-pacino-and-the-cast-and-crew-talk-scarface | archive-date = 5 January 2014 | url-status=live}} The film uses footage of the El Mariel coming to Miami.
• The Perez Family, a novel by Christine Bell; a group of Marielitos who share the same last name pretend to be a family{{cite news|last1=Brunet|first1=Elena|title=Last Boat From Mariel: The Perez Family by Christine Bell|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-09-23-bk-1858-story.html|access-date=23 March 2016|work=Los Angeles Times|date=23 September 1990|archive-date=7 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407131947/http://articles.latimes.com/1990-09-23/books/bk-1858_1_juan-perez|url-status=live}}
• The Perez Family (1995), a film based on the novel{{cite news|last1=Rainer|first1=Peter|title='The Perez Family': Saga in Need of a Thermostat|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-05-12-ca-65303-story.html|access-date=24 March 2016|work=Los Angeles Times|date=12 May 1995|archive-date=3 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403203402/http://articles.latimes.com/1995-05-12/entertainment/ca-65303_1_perez-family|url-status=live}}
• Before Night Falls (1992; English translation 1993), the autobiography of Marielito Reinaldo Arenas{{cite news|last1=Echevarria|first1=Roberto Gonzalez|title=An Outcast of the Island|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/12/06/specials/arenas-night.html|access-date=23 March 2016|work=New York Times|date=24 October 1993|archive-date=7 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307054822/http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/12/06/specials/arenas-night.html|url-status=live}}
• Before Night Falls (2000), a film based on the book{{cite news|last1=Preston|first1=Peter|title=It's love – but don't tell Fidel|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/jun/17/peterpreston|access-date=23 March 2016|date=17 June 2001|work=The Guardian|archive-date=4 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404201840/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/jun/17/peterpreston|url-status=live}}
• 90 Miles (2001), an American documentary film and memoir, written and directed by Marielito Juan Carlos Zaldívar{{cite web|title=90 Miles|url=https://www.pbs.org/pov/90miles/|website=POV|publisher=PBS|access-date=23 March 2016|archive-date=14 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314190826/http://www.pbs.org/pov/90miles/|url-status=live}}
• Finding Mañana: A Memoir of a Cuban Exodus (2005), a memoir by Mirta Ojito{{cite news | title = 'Finding Mañana': Marielitos' Way | date = 15 May 2005 | access-date = 27 March 2016 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/15/books/review/finding-manana-marielitos-way.html | first = Alexandra | last = Starr | work = The New York Times | url-access = subscription | archive-date = 29 May 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150529183008/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/15/books/review/finding-manana-marielitos-way.html | url-status = live }}
• Voices from Mariel (2011), a documentary film that tells the story of ten families{{cite press release | access-date = 27 March 2016 | date = 2 May 2012 | url = https://weta.org/press/pbs-series-%E2%80%9Clatino-americans%E2%80%9D-will-chronicle-latino-experience-u-s-over-last-200-years | publisher = WETA | title = PBS Series 'Latino Americans' Will Chronicle the Latino Experience in the U. S. Over the Last 200 Years; Premieres Fall 2013 | archive-date = 28 April 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150428104929/http://www.weta.org/press/pbs-series-%E2%80%9Clatino-americans%E2%80%9D-will-chronicle-latino-experience-u-s-over-last-200-years | url-status = live }}
• Voices from Mariel: Oral Histories of the 1980 Cuban Boatlift"Voices from Mariel: Oral Histories of the 1980 Cuban Boatlift," February 2018, José Manuel García University Press of Florida. http://upf.com/book.asp?id=9780813056661 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181125044630/http://upf.com/book.asp?id=9780813056661 |date=25 November 2018 }}
• White Lies, Season 2 (2023) {{Cite web |last1=Brantley |first1=Chip |last2=Grace |first2=Andrew Beck |date=January 24, 2023 |title=White Lies, Season 2 |url=https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510343/white-lies |access-date=February 22, 2023 |website=NPR |archive-date=February 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230222000724/https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510343/white-lies |url-status=live }}

The events at the Peruvian embassy are depicted in:

• Todos se van (Everyone's Leaving; 2006 in Spanish; 2013 in English), a novel by Wendy Guerra{{cite news |last1=Caussé|first1=Bruno|language=fr|title=Wendy Guerra : une Cubaine libre |url=http://www.lemonde.fr/livres/article/2008/07/03/wendy-guerra-une-cubaine-libre_1065778_3260.html |access-date=31 May 2016|work=Le Monde |date=3 July 2008|archive-date=8 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160808160728/http://www.lemonde.fr/livres/article/2008/07/03/wendy-guerra-une-cubaine-libre_1065778_3260.html|url-status=live}}
• Cuerpos al borde de una isla; mi salida de Cuba por Mariel (2010), a memoir by Reinaldo García Ramos about his experiences during the Boatlift

The Marielitos and the boatlift also featured in the Netflix series Griselda portraying Griselda Blanco's life in Miami where she employed them.

Notable Mariel boatlift refugees include:

{{Div col|colwidth=22em}}

• Carlos Alfonzo, a painter and sculptor{{cite news|title=Carlos Alfonzo, 40, Painter From Cuba|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/21/obituaries/carlos-alfonzo-40-painter-from-cuba.html|access-date=23 March 2016|work=New York Times|date=21 February 1991|archive-date=26 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626193825/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/21/obituaries/carlos-alfonzo-40-painter-from-cuba.html|url-status=live}}
• Reinaldo Arenas, poet and novelist
• Ignacio Berroa, jazz drummer
• Elizabeth Caballero, opera singer
• Hugo Cancio, businessman, CEO of Fuego Enterprises, publisher of the magazine OnCuba{{cite magazine|last1=Anderson|first1=Jon Lee|title=Opening for Business|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/opening-for-business|access-date=2 April 2016|magazine=The New Yorker|date=20 July 2015|archive-date=5 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160405010535/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/opening-for-business|url-status=live}}
• Felix Delgado, rapper and songwriter known as Cuban Link
• Olga María Rodríguez Farinas, widow of William Alexander Morgan, a leader of rebel forces in the Cuban Revolution
• Luis Felipe, convicted murderer and founder of the New York branch of the Latin Kings gang
• Bárbaro Garbey, baseball player and coach{{cite web |last=Weir |first=Tom |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2005-07-05-garbey-defection_x.htm |title=Cuban ballplayers remember Garbey |work=USA Today |date=6 July 2005 |access-date=31 March 2013 |archive-date=20 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220005202/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2005-07-05-garbey-defection_x.htm |url-status=live }}
• Julio González, arsonist and mass-murderer
• Francisco del Junco, serial killer{{Cite web|url=https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-2003-06-05-0306050162-story.html|title=Convicted Killer Gets Four Life Terms |author=Jennifer Valdes|publisher=Sun-Sentinel|date=June 5, 2003|access-date=1 December 2019|archive-date=31 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200131200154/https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-2003-06-05-0306050162-story.html|url-status=live}}
• Rene Lavan, actor and soap opera star
• Mailet Lopez, founder of I Had Cancer, a social networking site
• Pedro Medina, executed for murder
• Jesus Mezquia, murderer of Mia Zapata
• Mirta Ojito, writer and Pulitzer Prize winner
• Ras Juan Perez, founder of the Cuban reggae band Arawak Jah
• Orlando "Puntilla" Ríos, folkloric percussionist and vocalist{{cite web|last1=Corsa|first1=Lisette|title=Orlando "Puntilla" Rios (1947–2008)|url=http://www.globalrhythm.net/worldnews/OrlandoPuntillaRios1947-2008.cfm|website=Global Rhythm|access-date=23 March 2016|archive-date=4 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404214625/http://www.globalrhythm.net/worldnews/OrlandoPuntillaRios1947-2008.cfm|url-status=live}}
• Felipe García Villamil, Palo Monte priest, drummer, and artist{{cite news|last1=Cotter|first1=Holland|title=Channels to the Sacred, From Africa to the West|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/01/arts/review-art-channels-to-the-sacred-from-africa-to-the-west.html|access-date=23 March 2016|work=New York Times|date=1 October 1993|archive-date=4 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404084933/http://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/01/arts/review-art-channels-to-the-sacred-from-africa-to-the-west.html|url-status=live}}
• Manuel Machado Alvarez, murderer
• Pedro Zamora, who appeared on the television show The Real World

{{Div col end}}

{{Portal|United States|Cuba|1980s}}

• 1980 diplomatic protection incident at the Peruvian Embassy, Havana
• Camarioca boatlift
• Cuba–United States relations
• Garcia-Mir v. Meese (1986 Circuit Court decision)
• {{cite web |url=http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1980/Operation-Boatlift/Exodus-of-Cuban-Exiles/12311726509558-8/ |title=1980 Year in Review: Operation Boatlift/Exodus of Cuban Exiles |publisher=United Press International

|access-date=14 October 2011}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book |last=Larzelere |first=Alex |title=The 1980 Cuban Boatlift |location=Washington, DC |publisher=National Defense University Press |year=1988 }}
• [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/mariel-boatlift.htm Mariel Boatlift] on globalsecurity.org.

• [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12341948&dopt=Abstract Six-year study] of Mariel refugees
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090416082732/http://www.miamibeach411.com/news/index.php?/news/comments/fleeing-cuba/ Fleeing Cuba for a Better Life in USA]
• [http://upf.com/book.asp?id=9780813056661 Voices from Mariel: Oral Histories of the 1980 Cuban Boatlift], UPF, February 2018

{{Cuban exile}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1980 in Cuba

Category:1980 in Florida

Category:1980 in the United States

Category:Cuba–United States relations

Category:Cuban emigrants

Category:Cuban-American culture in Florida

Category:Cuban-American history

Category:Cuban refugees

Category:Haitian-American history

Category:History of immigration to the United States

Category:History of Key West, Florida